A state legislator is firing back after Oklahoma’s Attorney General recently released an opinion supporting the use of public tax dollars to fund private religious schools. The opinion relies on three Supreme Court cases in the last five years allowing state funds to go to religious programs.
Democratic State Representative Mickey Dollens responded to Attorney General John O’Connor’s opinion, which makes the case that if Oklahoma’s private charter schools can receive state funds, religious schools should also be able to.
Dollens is a former public school teacher from Oklahoma City. He posted his response to the AG’s opinion on his social media last week.
"In 2016, State Question 290 failed by 56%. That question wanted to remove the Blaine Amendment and allow for public dollars to go to religiously affiliated schools. The people of Oklahoma overwhelmingly voted that down," said Dollens.
The AG’s opinion isn’t binding, and the legislature would likely have to get involved to change Oklahoma’s funding policies.
Oklahoma has received a $105 million grant from the EPA to improve water infrastructure.
President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law just over a year ago. It allocated over $50 billion to improve drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure across the country.
Some of those funds arrived in Oklahoma at the end of November, when the Environmental Protection Agency presented a check for over $105 million to the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
The EPA tasked states, tribes and territories with using the money to improve water infrastructure for disadvantaged communities. In particular, these funds are intended to reduce lead in drinking water, improve climate resiliency and address emerging contaminants, like forever chemical PFAS.
The EPA will continue to distribute Bipartisan Infrastructure funds for water projects over the next four years.
The owner of a Norman bakery died in the Cleveland County jail last week.
38-year-old Shannon Hanchett, the owner of Okie Baking Co. located at the Cookie Cottage on Norman’s Main Street, died last Thursday after being found unconscious and not breathing in her cell at the Cleveland County jail.
Norman police officers say they were responding to a call about Hanchett’s behavior at an AT&T store when they arrested her on Nov. 26. She was being held on a $1,000 bond with misdemeanor charges of making false 911 calls and obstructing an officer.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office are investigating Hanchett’s death.
The latest edition of KGOU’s Capitol Insider features general manager Dick Pryor and Quorum Call’s Shawn Ashley gearing up for the next legislative session and discussing the processes lawmakers and agencies are going through now to get prepared. That includes why the Board of Equalization needs to certify the amount of money available for appropriation before the session begins.
"The December meeting gives the governor — and for that matter the public — a number to use in the State of the State Address. Otherwise, the governor could promise a chicken in every pot, when the official expectation is there will not be that many chickens," said Ashley.
You can hear their full conversation on latest Capitol Insider episode and on the show's weekly podcast.
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