TRANSCRIPT
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Dick Pryor: This is Capitol Insider - taking you inside politics, policy, and government in Oklahoma. I'm Dick Pryor with Quorum Call publisher, Shawn Ashley. Shawn, the State Board of Education has approved new social studies standards for schools in Oklahoma. In accordance with state law, those standards were submitted to the legislature for review in March. The standards are controversial. Democrats have opposed them from the beginning and now Republicans are speaking out against the standards. What are the latest developments on opposition to these standards?
Shawn Ashley: Senate Education Committee Chair Adam Pugh, a Republican from Edmond, filed a resolution Thursday to disapprove the standards. Republicans had been resistant to the idea of disapproving the standards until this past week, when some of Governor Kevin Stitt's new appointees to the State Board of Education raised concerns about them. Stitt even suggested Wednesday that the legislature should disapprove the standards.
Dick Pryor: What are legislators objecting to?
Shawn Ashley: Democrats are concerned about the standards’ content. Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters had touted the standards’ focus on the role Christianity played in the nation's founding, for example. The standards also raised questions about the 2020 elections, Democrats note. They also point out many of the standards may not be developmentally appropriate because they ask younger students to address some very complicated subjects. Kindergarteners, for example, are asked to discuss free market economics.
Pugh's resolution focuses in large part on how the standards were approved by the board, a concern Democrats have raised as well, and what Stitt called the mechanics of the process. Pugh notes, as did Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, that board members were sent the final version of the standards just after 4 p.m. the day before they were to vote on them at a 9:30 a.m meeting the next morning. Now those standards total around 400 pages. Pugh's resolution also refers to changes that were made to the standards after they were initially published on the State Department of Education's website, but before the vote. Changes that were not discussed publicly and several board members said they were unaware that they were in the proposed standards.
Dick Pryor: So quickly, where is this heading?
Shawn Ashley: Legislators have until Thursday, May 1st to pass Pugh's resolution through both chambers and send it to Stitt for his signature. If they don't, the standards automatically take effect.
Dick Pryor: From time to time, new bills pop up during the legislative session that nobody saw coming. That happened in the last few days with a bill regulating commercial driver's licenses. Tell us about the journey of Senate Bill 20.
Shawn Ashley: Senate Bill 20 passed through a Senate committee, across the Senate floor, and through a House committee as a bill that allowed the use of street legal utility vehicles on U.S. highways with speed limits of 50 miles per hour or less. But when it was heard Thursday by the House Commerce and Economic Development Oversight Committee, its original language was shucked or completely removed from the bill. And replaced with language that requires commercial driver's license holders in Oklahoma to possess proof of citizenship of the country that issued their license and demonstrate a proficiency in the English language.
Dick Pryor: Now, the author says this is a public safety bill. It passed a House committee. How does he see it promoting public safety and what are opponents saying about it?
Shawn Ashley: Representative Jonathan Wilk, the bill's house author, said English proficiency would improve driver skills and improve their abilities on the road. He noted that Oklahoma is one of the top 10 states for commercial vehicle accidents and fatalities. Opponents noted the bill could impact interstate commerce, which largely is federally regulated and conflict with other federal regulations. A similar bill in Arkansas, Representative Annie Menz noted, was withdrawn because of similar constitutional concerns.
Dick Pryor: And Thursday was the deadline for most bills to be heard in committee, so lawmakers will be returning to floor work in their respective chambers. But there's more to watch in the week ahead than the regular order of business.
Shawn Ashley: First, there is that social studies standards resolution. It has to be voted on Tuesday in the Senate and Thursday in the House if it is to go to Governor Stitt. And Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments in the St. Isidore Charter School case, which could have an impact on Oklahoma and the rest of the nation. We probably won't see a decision in that case until June, but we may get an idea Wednesday of which way the justices are leaning.
Dick Pryor: It's going to be a big week. Thanks, Shawn.
Shawn Ashley: You're very welcome.
Dick Pryor: For more information, go to quorumcall.online. You can find audio and transcripts at KGOU.org and look for Capitol Insider where you get podcasts. Until next time, with Shawn Ashley, I'm Dick Pryor.
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