Schoolhouse Rocked: The Homeschool Revolution – one of our own Oklahoma independent film makers and homeschoolers answering the questions, “Why do homeschoolers need a tax break” (short answer – they don’t and neither does anyone else).
The Oklahoma Voice – Our legislators want us to believe we can’t afford a tax cut. Meanwhile, the biggest proponent of paying people to bring their businesses to the state – our Governor Kevin Stitt – is saying he’s going to open an Oklahoma DOGE office inside of OMES – the place where Oklahoma taxpayer dollars go to be redistributed. Truly, so many of our legislature has no idea why they’re there. They think it’s to ‘make laws’, or ‘help bring business’ to the state, but very few seem to understand that GIVING AWAY THE GAINS OF THE INDUSTRY OF OKLAHOMANS ISN’T IT!
The Oklahoma Voice – So we’re going to cut spending while increasing the cap on the ‘school choice’ tax credit. So, again, we’re going to be funding TWO KINDS OF EDUCATION IN OKLAHOMA – PRIVATE AND PUBLIC WITH TAX DOLLARS. I suggest you watch one of our podcasts on the ‘tax credit’ to get a better idea of what a bad idea this is.
Alex Newman – Liberty Sentinel – This is one you should probably read after you watch the video and think about what it means for the Governor to want to reduce taxes while increasing the cap on a tax incentive program…
The Oklahoma Voice – So, we’re going to increase teacher salaries. Look, I know there are some good teachers out there, but they should be paid by THEIR SCHOOL BOARD! If a teacher is doing great, the school board should vote to give them a raise!!! Yet very few that I’ve ever heard of do that! Instead, we’ll allow the legislature to create a BLANKET RAISE FOR EVERYONE EVEN THOUGH WE’RE 49TH IN EDUCATION AND HAVEN’T IMPROVED SINCE COVID! Please don’t re-elect the people who work at Lincoln and 23rd who vote for this nonsense.
The Garfield County Conservation Coalition – this is the group that’s fighting a huge solar installation north of Enid. They have a point. Governor Stitt should stand with Trump as a Republican and QUIT SHOVING THE GREEN AGENDA DOWN OUR THROATS.
The Federalist – I would say that maybe this would end the fights between parents and administration over things like boys in girl’s bathrooms, but since so many schools are staffed with progressive ideologues today, the chances of this kind of thing will probably not go down as much as we’d like. Still and all, don’t let schools push you around parents! Trump has wiped out of existence all the progressive BS.
“In this upcoming session, if we pass two bills, a state budget and a bill reducing the usage of cellphones in public schools, it will be one of the most substantial legislative sessions that I’ve experienced.”
Full stop.
During the fight to repeal Common Core from state law and remove it from Oklahoma classrooms, the talking points invariably used by legislators to stiff-arm our pleas included “we don’t like education mandates” and “we’re a local control state”. No joke. But then, during those years, one history teacher-turned legislator told me that Oklahomans send legislators to the capitol to “write bills”.
What The Bill Says
Here is the cell phone bill, created by Senate Education Committee Vice-Chair, Ally Seifried; SB139.
According to the press release sent out by Senate Media, the bill, “empower[s] schools to adopt ‘bell to bell’ cell phone policies”, yet the bill summary says, “An Act relating to schools; requiring school district boards of education to adopt a policy prohibiting use of cell phones while on campus during certain time period”. Requiring and ’empowering’ do not have the same meaning – the first includes force.
In fact, the bill goes on to say that it will require schools to set discipline policies for students who break the school’s required policy on cell phone use (the force part). It also allots up to 2 million taxpayer dollars (“if available”, whatever that means) to be granted to middle and high schools so they can buy something to STORE cell phones during the day.
Problems With The Bill
What is the point of a school board? According to state law, individual local school boards have the right and ability to set policy – including policy over cell phones. This bill actively usurps local school board authority. On one hand, we expect parents to execute control over their minor children, yet so much of what the state does actually removes parental executive control in favor of a government policy, rule or law. How can a parent execute parental control if we keep removing their executive function?
This is NEW LAW. How many laws do Oklahomans need to restrain them – or, in this case, their children? What about schools? Could an argument be made that part of the reason public schools in Oklahoma are failing is that they are constrained by state laws that may not have been needed at the local level?
This law forces schools to create disciplinary actions to be meted out when students break cell phone policy. What happens if a school DOESN’T create a cell phone policy? What happens if they don’t create a discipline policy? How many times has state law required schools to create a policy, but then never forced the school to write the policy when they don’t? Tulsa attorney Maria Seidler has told us numerous times, for example, that public schools don’t adhere to all of Oklahoma’s Parental Rights law, but there isn’t an enforcement mechanism in the law to make them, forcing parents to use their own money to sue schools while schools use taxpayer dollars to fight them. How many times has the state forced schools to follow the policies they DO create – about bathrooms, free speech, bullying, or student safety, for example? This law, then, would be meaningless, just like so many others our legislature creates, because there isn’t a mechanism of enforcement.
Schools can apply for a grant to create a place/places for student cell phones to be kept. Two million dollars will be pulled from taxpayer pockets to supply grant ‘winners’. Is there a reason cell phones can’t be turned off as students come into class, dropped into a basket on the teacher’s desk and collected before they leave the classroom? Two million dollars is needed for that?
WhatOur Constitution Guarantees
The Oklahoma Constitution says the following in Section 2-1: Political power – Purpose of government – Alteration or reformation:
All political power is inherent in the people; and government is instituted for their protection, security, and benefit, and to promote their general welfare; and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it: Provided, such change be not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States.
How does any of the nonsense written in our Speaker-Elect’s priority bill match with the wording of our state Constitution?
In fact,
It usurps local control of government – which removes the security citizens should have in control of their government and removes any benefit to them by taking the issue out of their hands.
It creates a NEW law, removing power from the people and giving it to government. The more laws government creates, the more individual liberty is constrained and the less benefit or security ‘the people’ receive.
This law is meaningless because it accomplishes nothing. Meaningless laws cause ‘the people’ to suffer. Even if prohibitions were added to the bill that FORCED schools to create policy on this issue, it would do little more than once again remove the power from “the people”/parents to deal with the issue and give it to government.
Taking MORE dollars from taxpayers to buy unnecessary items is burdensome to the liberty of ‘the people’. The economy is hard. Parents need to KEEP THEIR OWN MONEY and decide how to spend it. Interestingly, if parents choose not to pay their taxes so they won’t be used for government frivolity, government will fine them or send them to prison. THAT is how out-of-whack our government is compared to what our Constitution says our government must do or be.
What The Legislature MUST PrioritizeInstead
The legislature MUST:
Prohibit PRIVATE BUSINESSES from receiving public funds to do business in the state; ie – remove ALL tax credits and incentives for private business. This would restore free enterprise and a fair economy, creating a benefit for all citizens and security of an even playing field for those who own their own businesses. As example; we spent at least one million taxpayer dollars on a fledgling electric car maker that has never lived up to its promises.
Prohibit taxation of property and income (which is also property). Our state constitution says in Section 2-2 on Inherent Rights; “All persons have the inherent right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the gains of their own industry“. The bolded terminology refers to property and income. The taxation of such flies in the face of our Constitution’s requirement for the government to provide us protection, security and benefit. The legislature should write a state question to enable the people to change the Constitution to prevent the use of property taxation and start to phase out income tax ASAP (see Rep. Jay Steagall).
Prohibit eminent domain for turnpikes, solar installations, wind turbines or any desire of PRIVATE INDUSTRY to conduct business in our state. Taking the property of ‘the people’ should only be done in VERY DIRE need that would benefit ‘the people’. A private wind turbine company – Invenergy – shouldn’t be able to take property from Oklahoma citizens to create an electric transmission corridor that would allow them to ship Oklahoma wind energy to out of state customers.
Stop giving money to public schoolsthat do not educate children. We are 49th in education and most children in the state aren’t proficient in either reading or math. Uneducated students remove our security and provide little benefit to the state or it’s citizens and taking tax dollars from citizens to support failure removes their security. Public schools often have multi-million dollar sports stadiums full of high school kids who can’t count back change. Stop allowing taxpayers to be robbed for failure.
What “The People” Must Do
Contact your legislator. Remind them of the guarantees our State Constitution provides Oklahoma citizens. When legislation is promoted that does NOT agree with these guarantees, immediately call and/or email and explain why the bill must be voted down.
Until we Oklahomans understand the function of our state government, we can’t educate our elected officials. At least read the Bill of Rights of our Constitution. Then, educate those around you including your legislators. It’s the only way to put government back in the hands of ‘the people’ and out of those who think only of lobbyists, public school bullies and elevating their power quotient for another job in government when they’re through at the legislature.
No general Oklahoma voter can exercise their vote for one of the most important political positions in the legislature – Speaker of the House. Why, you might ask? Though that’s an excellent and reasonable question, I honestly don’t know, but as long as I’ve been aware, we’ve had to rely on our elected House Representatives to do that for us – often in secret vote.
What, you might say? How can the leader of the House – the one that picks the Committee Chairs, the one that decides what bills are heard, the one that sets the tone for the House of Representatives and can break a tie with their vote on any contentious legislation heard in committee – not be voted on by Oklahoma voters, though he or she would lead one entire half of the body of our legislature? Well, again, that’s a really excellent question.
Here’s what it says about the process in the article announcing Hilbert’s election – because there is nothing on the Oklahoma Legislature website that explains how the Speaker of the House is elected.
Under majority caucus rules, the speaker-designate for the upcoming Legislature is selected through a caucus election on the first Monday in March during election years. The 60th Legislature will be seated after November’s elections and convene for its first session in 2025. The entire body of the House will formally vote on its next speaker on organizational day for the 60th Oklahoma Legislature in early January 2025.
Majority (Republican) caucus rules can change every year, so that’s a comforting notion.
But not so fast. There is at least one other vote for House Speaker, so Hilbert’s ascendancy isn’t written in stone.
And why shouldn’t there be another vote? Some of the members of the House at the time of the first vote were either term-limited, or voted out in the primaries. Some still face a candidate in the November 5th election. Why should Representatives who won’t even be seated in the House during the 2025 session vote on the Speaker position instead of the newly elected Representatives who will serve in that legislature?
Recently, representative Tom Gann of Inola has thrown his hat in the ring to challenge Kyle Hilbert for Speaker. (Here’s a bit about Tom Gann from Ballotpedia.)
I thought it might be interesting to compare the two candidates, so I went through the Oklahoma Ethics Guardian System and pulled their Ethics reports from January through August – the first three quarters of the filing year. To make it easy to read, I loaded both Contributions and Expenses data for each candidate into an Excel spreadsheet.
Here is Tom Gann’s. Representative Gann has been in the House since 2016.
Here is Kyle Hilbert’s. Hilbert has also been in the Oklahoma House since 2016.
Totals are at the bottom of each column, but let me recap:
Tom Gann had no contributions for the first three reporting quarters. He had no real expenses other than the loan he repaid himself from 2023.
During that same time period, Kyle Hilbert took $1900 from individuals (including former legislators), $5750 from lobbyists, $61,151.32 from 38 different PACs (9 originating out of state), $20,657.67 from individuals associated with some kind of a business (the entry was John Smith, CEO of XYZ Corporation) and $2950 from two separate tribes – for a total of $92,408.99.
Hilbert’s expenses are not fully listed here. I picked out his payments to other House members – a total of $97,200.00). He also paid CAMP and James Martin Company for his political needs. Both often work together in the world of Oklahoma political consulting.
This is a video of Kyle Hilbert from a KFOR political program on Sunday mornings. Please note. According to him, his job is to get Republicans elected to office.
Clearly, he’s not read the Constitution. That is NOT his job. His job is to protect the liberty of his constituents. Please also note – he was convinced that former Chair of the House Appropriations Committee Kevin Wallace would be re-elected. In a stunning victory for LIBERTY in Lincoln and surrounding counties, citizens came out during a hot July primary to UNELECT Kevin Wallace because he was more interested in special interests than his own constituents – kind of like Kyle Hilbert.
The Hilliary family are big political donors, including to Governor Kevin Stitt and State Superintendent Ryan Walters. We looked at the Hilliarys’ political contributions since 2015 and found they donated $705,803.20 to candidates and PACS that support them. $249,315.60 of that came directly from Hilliary Communications co-CEO Dustin Hilliary. In April, Dustin was appointed by Governor Stitt to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, even though Dustin, himself, does not hold a college degree.
Here is an invitation for a fund-raiser for the PAC. Note, that James Martin Company – who is paid many multiple thousands of dollars by Hilbert’s campaign account – is taking RSVPs.
The main donations to the PAC are other PACs, lobbyists and individuals associated with companies or corporations – many of which are the same ones donating to Hilbert’s campaign.
The main expenditures from the PAC fund the campaigns of Oklahoma Representatives – including Hilbert. Why? Aren’t people from their own districts supposed to be supporting their office? Aren’t they to be Representatives of the People, not PACs or other candidates or legislators? If a candidate is receiving money from the campaign of a ‘leadership’ PAC or the Speaker Designate, what does that say about the independence of those Oklahoma Representatives? What happens when a bill is run and the Speaker needs votes? (Notice, not every legislator is on either Hilbert’s or WolfPAC’s list). Some Oklahoma legislators don’t take funds like those described above, thus circumventing any of the questions posed about their consequences.
Don’t Oklahomans have the right to wonder what happens during the next vote for Speaker? Do legislators who got checks feel the need to vote for the person who gifted them of his campaign funds? It surely does beg the question and an answer should be carefully considered.
In contrast, here is a video of Tom Gann during an October 8th Interim Study held at the capitol which described how Oklahomans can lose a host of their Constitutional rights when police officers pull over cars and use data captured by Automatic License Plate Readers.
Hmmm…is it just me, or is there really no comparison between Gann and Hilbert now that we’ve had the chance to look at them side-by-side?
Gann is funded by NO ONE – Hilbert is funded by PACs and lobbyists and individuals who represent/work with large corporations and businesses within the state – people who could very well have a stake in any legislation run through the legislature.
NOW, if any of the issues I’ve brought up concern you, contact your House Rep RIGHT NOW and ask them to vote for Tom Gann for Speaker of the House! (If you don’t know who that is, please slap yourself and then go here) It’s the only way to put government back in its box – the one that exists solely of PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES.
List of PACs Contributing To Kyle Hilbert’s Campaign January through August, 2024
Advance Freedom PAC
Amber Integrated PAC
American Electric Power Committee for Responsible Government
American Fidelity Corp PAC
Architects Political Action Committee
Associated Builders and Contractors Oklahoma PAC
AT&T Oklahoma PAC
Beer Distributors of Oklahoma Political Action Committee
Bondsman Political Action Committee
Brightspring PAC (KY)
Boeing Company PAC
CARE PAC
Cox PAC
Delta Dental of Oklahoma For Oral Health PAC
Dentaquest PAC (MA)
Enterprise Holdings Inc. PAC (MO)
IP-PAC (DC) (also an International Paper PAC)
International Paper PAC (DC)
Invenergy Political Action Committee (IL)
Marathon Oil Company PAC (TX)
OK Beef PAC
Oklahoma Academy of Physician Associates
Oklahoma Committee of Automobile Retailers
Oklahoma’s Electric Cooperatives PAC
Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association PAC
Oklahoma Optometric Political Action Committee
Oklahoma Pharmacists Association PAC
Oklahoma Society of Certified Public Accountants Political Action Committee
Last Friday, Michael and I had former attorney and non-profit wrangler, Ken Malloy on the ROPE Report to talk about the NorthStar Project and how NorthStar is influencing Tulsa Public Education. From recruiting and helping school board candidates to run on a campaign of reforming TPS, to writing White Papers detailing TPS educational legacy, this new Think Tank formed last year is off to a running start.
Ken and his wife Maria Seidler (of Legal Overwatch For Parents Rights), both retired attorneys, migrated from the East Coast to Oklahoma to be with family.
During the interview, Ken talked about how different the culture is in New York – where litigation against governmental entities is more commonplace – compared to here in Oklahoma where few of our governmental officials are ever called on the carpet and therefore, are not at all responsive to the citizens they represent and who pay their salaries. In fact, Ken likens Oklahoma’s citizens to mushrooms because we’re kept in the dark and fed ‘crap’, by our government officials.
Ken’s comments in the video struck such a chord with viewers that the first comment wanted to know “how we can get involved” and the second comment said this:
Jenni’s heard me say this approximately 386 times, but…once again: As a fairly recent transplant from the west coast who took the time to study OK and visit here TWICE before moving–I’m shocked at the complacent attitudes of most Oklahoma conservatives. I’ve heard, “Oh, that won’t happen here–it’s OKLAHOMA, not California!” more times than I can count, seriously.
I tell them I lived through “the fall of California”, was a young adult during the Reagan administration, saw the decline of that red state. I tell them I see Texas purpling. I tell them I see the exact same signs I saw in CA 40 years ago and if Oklahoma isn’t careful, vigilant, aggressive in defending it’s freedoms–it will be faced with attempting to take back ground instead.
We all know how much more difficult that is.
Instead of being well-received, or taken at least a bit seriously, my words are often pooh-poohed, and I’m treated as though I know nothing, as though I’m somehow “mistaken”. Many folks aren’t even old enough to know what California USED to be like.
“That won’t happen HERE, Lisa–THIS IS OKLAHOMA!” may be the last thing some of these folks remember thinking “back before the statists took over” if they’re not careful.
And THEY STILL WON’T LISTEN.
Sadly, the first video of the week on Wednesday found ROPE Report Regular V1SUT – instead of telling us how school officials are molesting students and seemingly getting away with it – telling us that our Attorney General, Gentner Drummond, hasn’t signed on to the Supreme Court case (Missouri V Biden) that COULD put an end to government interference in social media -for example, requesting the censoring of users whose opinions and ideas might be contrary to the state’s.
In addition, our own state legislators are using the recent suicide death of Owasso student Dagney Benedict, to to create language – in a gutted, already-filed bill – that could substantially chill free speech in Oklahoma. Please read SB1100 and then let your Representative know that this bill isn’t right for Oklahoma and that free speech MUST stand.
File under ROPEtoldyaso. In fact, thanks to this, ROPE and homeschoolers across Oklahoma will take the prize for “prophets of the year” already for 2024.
Yesterday, Oklahoma’s Channel 9, interviewed Representative Jacob Rosecrants who had the following to say about Oklahoma’s Parental Tax Credit for private school tuition.
Woah… Weird… Sounds exactly like what we’ve been saying could happen since nearly the beginning of the “Parental Choice” movement, right?
Yes. All one has to do is search this site to find out how many articles have been devoted to attempting to educate people about this specific issue.
“But Jenni, Rosecrants is a DEMOCRAT! This will NEVER happen here!”
Well picture me as Santa Clause in this quote from the movie Elf:
I’ve watched the legislature for nearly 15 years now and I’ve seen Republicans do some super UNRepublican stuff – the biggest example here being jumping on the Common Core bandwagon, where a majority of Oklahoma Republicans wanted a national curricula for Oklahoma kids until we began going to them individually with facts that showed how harmful such a program would be (and now we know – for the states who used it – how harmful it was).
In fact, one would have HOPED that Republicans – people whose platform indicates them to be bastions of smaller government and private enterprise over public control – would have spotted the whole tax credit/VOUCHER scheme from a mile off. Yet, how can we forget that there wasn’t a single Republican lawmaker who voted AGAINST the tax credit/VOUCHER – scheme last session. Not one. Here are the votes for the HOUSE. Here are the votes for the Senate so you can check me up on that.
So ask yourself…how did not a single Republican Senator or House member think it wouldn’t be problematic to give private schools public tax dollars?
Frankly, that’s a great question, and if we can’t answer that question, how in the world could we trust our legislature not to simply double-down on the whole thing and then turn around and tell us it’s a good thing – which is what they did with the tax credit/VOUCHER scheme in the first place.
“This is a tax credit, not a voucher”, they said.
“This is to help underserved/underrepresented kids”, they said.
Already, however – not even two months into the program – nearly every Republican talking point for the program has been debunked.
In this video, I make the point that out of the 4 income categories proposed for the “tax credit”, only the upper two income categories are a true tax credit – and that’s only for one child – the lower 2 income categories are 100% VOUCHERS. So it’s just a boldfaced lie to have sold the program as a tax credit right there. Why were none of the Republicans crunching the numbers to find this out for themselves? This was easy info to find.
Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act (OPCTCA)
Then we have the idea that it’s to help disadvantaged kids/families.
The Tax Commission has received more than 30,000 applications for the tax credits approved by the GOP-led Oklahoma Legislature last year. About 45% are from priority applicants and 55% are from families earning more than $150,000 annually, Haxton said.
So, there you go. If you have a household income of $150k and you can’t put your own kids in private schools, OTHER PEOPLE SHOULDN’T BE SENDING YOUR KIDS TO PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR YOU. That’s 100% socialism – especially when I just showed that you don’t even get ONE KID as a tax credit at that level. Our household is near that income level and we had one kid at Oklahoma Christian School for two years, scrimping and saving and homeschooling the others. Why should I pay for YOUR kid when you didn’t pay for mine?
Meanwhile, back in Arizona, School Choice Inc’s MODEL for school ‘choice’ legislation – including full universal vouchers like Oklahoma’s Governor signed into law just last year – Democrat Governor “Katie Hobbs unveils plan to rein in Arizona school voucher program“. Yup, regulation of private schools on even a WORSE level than Rep. Jacob Rosecrants has suggested, including the following:
A requirement that private schools provide the accommodations and services in a disabled student’s Individualized Learning Plan or Section 504 Plan.
Require manual approval of any ESA purchase over $500. That should ensure the taxpayer dollars that fund ESAs are spent on academic purposes, Hobbs said. She also called for an end to ESA awards for items such as ski passes and luxury car driving lessons, although it’s unclear how those “luxury” items would be defined.
Give the state Auditor General authority to review and report on how ESA money is spent by private schools. This is a standard practice for Arizona’s public schools.
So, how in the world did a REAL threat that private schools be regulated for purposes of accountability and essentially turned into public schools over a tax credit bill rear its ugly head? How does this happen in Oklahoma? Aren’t we smarter than that?
Whelp…NO. According to EdWeek, Oklahoma was 49th in education in 2021. So, maybe we aught to be putting more effort into MAKING public schools actually educate kids instead of growing government to the point that it becomes the blob that ate private schools.
