http://blog.ofrg.org Official Blog for Oklahoma Transparency, Accountability, and News in State Government Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:07:10 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Later this month, OFRG will release an update of the Blueprint for Transparency which looks at the information provided on school district websites.  While the data is still being assessed, we can tell you that the results for this year will be incrementally better than last year. For example, last year's report ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1558 In the five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city's school system has seen vast improvements.  A former member of the Louisiana State School Board wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week that since reforms were made following the disaster, The number of fourth-grade students who pass the ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1588 Edmond businessman Phil Busey was one of the people the Oklahoma Education Association brought to testify at a House interim study last year on State Question 744.  Today, he wrote in a column in the Edmond Sun that it's "not the best approach to education reform."  He goes on to ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1586 It has been a busy summer for OFRG and the 60 days left until Election Day only promise to deliver more of the same.  We've been going to towns around the state delivering presentations on State Question 744 and the other 10 state questions on the ballot. Whether it's Durant, McAlester, ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1582 Supporters of State Question 744 like to tout the fact that the measure does not raise taxes or mandate that other agencies get their budgets cut. And they are right. In fact, there are no provisions at all in SQ 744 about how to pay for the billion ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1571 State Question 744 will be the topic of a discussion tonight at Picasso's in Oklahoma City's Paseo District.  Representatives from both sides of the issue will be on hand at the "Policy and a Pint" event which is put on by KOSU Public Radio.  The format isn't really a debate, ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1574 Taxpayers flexed their muscles yesterday in Guthrie, Norman and Enid where bonds or fee increases on the ballot were shot down by voters. In Guthrie, the school district was asking for nearly 90-million in bonds for improvements like a new high school, sports fields and gymnasium.  It would have raised property taxes ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1568 Following today's State Supreme Court decision overturning the health insurance claims tax as unconstitutional (read our blog from yesterday here and our comment on the ruling here), we got a comment from Wayne Rohde about the impact on the state's budget: Now that this fee has been ruled unconstitutional, it was ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1563 Oral arguments were heard today at the State Supreme Court over the new law which imposes a fee on health insurance claims in order to raise around $78-million for Oklahoma's Medicaid system.  State Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland is challenging the constitutionality of the law. Her argument is similar to the one ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1560 The Los Angeles Times published an analysis of teacher effectiveness earlier this week, using test score data that the paper says shows which teachers are more likely to get students to improve.  According to the paper, Contrary to popular belief, the best teachers were not concentrated in schools in the most ... http://blog.ofrg.org/?p=1552