Is Oklahoma’s food-stamp program indirectly harming citizen health?

Researchers estimate personal behaviors account for 40 percent of the determinants of health, with another 30 percent attributed to genetics. Health care accounts for just 10 percent.

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by Ray Carter

Oklahoma Attorney General defends tax-credit scholarship programs

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the participation of private religious schools in state tax-credit scholarship programs, arguing that a Montana Supreme Court decision striking down such programs unconstitutionally violated citizens’ First Amendment rights.

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by Ray Carter

Fears Fellowship welcomes first class

At a dinner event launching the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs’ first J. Rufus Fears Fellowship, attendees were told the lessons of history that Fears championed, and their relevance for today’s political issues, will be the focus in the weeks ahead.

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by Ray Carter

Facing discrimination claims, OU settles with law professor

The University of Oklahoma has reached a settlement agreement with a law school professor whose Christian beliefs and writings made him the target of hostile articles in the student newspaper last year and resulted in his loss of two administrative positions.

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by Mike Brake

HB 1017 reforms included school-choice funding

The passage of House Bill 1017 in 1990 has long been hailed as a major step forward for Oklahoma education. One often overlooked component of that reform measure is that the law allowed the use of taxpayer funding to cover private-school costs for certain students, lawmakers were reminded Tuesday. 

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by Ray Carter

Critic of virtual schools has degree from online university

A state senator who has been a prominent critic of Oklahoma’s virtual charter schools for K-12 students holds a doctorate from a for-profit online university that was subsequently closed amid claims it was a diploma mill.

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by Ray Carter

Medicaid expansion could shift some federal costs to Oklahoma

Members of the legislative Healthcare Working Group learned Wednesday that one part of Medicaid expansion would involve the federal government offloading costs onto state taxpayers.

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by Ray Carter

To help with childhood trauma, expand school choice

Opinion leaders in Oklahoma are focusing on what can be done about high rates of childhood trauma. It’s obviously a topic worth being concerned about. One of the most well-established policy remedies for this problem, however, doesn’t seem to be part of the conversation in Oklahoma: expanding school choice.

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by Greg Forster