Lawmaker pulls controversial bill concerning students on IEPs
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – State Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) received backlash after introducing a controversial bill targeting students on IEPS.
Oklahoma bill takes aim at resources available to students on IEPs
Deevers (R-Elgin) on Wednesday said he has heard from parents, speech therapists, and education advocates and he has decided to pull Oklahoma Senate Bill 1017 while requesting an audit ensuring school-based services are serving kids with disabilities advantageously.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 1017 faced pushback from local communities on the bill interpretation and practicality in improving children with disabilities and parents responsibilities.
Oklahoma lawmaker bill seeks to strip Medicaid coverage for school-based IEP assistance
Sen. Deevers released the following statement:
'Over the past several days, I have given extensive thought to SB1017 and engaged in discussions with countless loving and amazing teachers, therapists, parents, and concerned citizens. One thing remains clear: these students' essential educational services must be protected. I have also heard, unequivocally, from parents who do not want to lose oversight of their children's medical decisions as well as therapists and teachers who see the problems in the system that this bill was trying to address.
'In states such as Maryland and California, school-based health centers have put students on hormonal birth control, IUD's, abortion pills, gender affirming care and chest-binders, and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatments all without parental consent or even notification. The purpose of SB1017 was to protect parental rights and prevent the potential for these sorts of things from ever coming to Oklahoma by tying our state definitions to IDEA, the federal law dealing with school-based services.
'It has become evident that the language of SB1017 needed to more precisely reflect my intent—protecting the necessary services for our special needs students while ensuring that parental rights remain intact. I regret any confusion or concern this has caused and sincerely apologize for the turmoil it has created. My goal from the outset has been to safeguard our children, our schools, and our medical and educational professionals while also preventing the unchecked expansion of school-based health programs that we are seeing in other states that could undermine parental authority through blanket consent forms and questionable medical ethics.
'I appreciate the attention this issue has received and am grateful for the engagement of parents, teachers, and therapists across Oklahoma who have sought to provide clarity and support. However, I recognize that not everyone is convinced of the reasons underlying the introduction of this bill, which is why I am officially withdrawing SB1017 from consideration. It will not be heard.
'Additionally, I have secured a commitment from the State Department of Education to compile and take a closer look at their audits to ensure the system is working as it should.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
So, What Did I Miss?
The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. 'How much can possibly happen when I'm on parental leave?' I said five months ago, on January 10, 2025. 'I understand that Donald Trump will be the next president, and yes, he said he'd be a dictator 'on day one,' but our institutions have been 250 years in the making. Surely something that took 250 years to build would not run entirely on the honor system! I will be able to spend a few months keeping a baby alive, and when I get back, I will be able to walk to work without bumping into the president's birthday tank parade. If he tries to put an anti-vaccine crank in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, a monstrous buffoon who thinks that it is acceptable for some children to die from measles, a disease we had eradicated until about eight minutes ago, Congress will surely stop him. There won't be goons in face coverings yanking graduate students off the street and into unmarked vans after they write op-eds with which Marco Rubio disagrees. If Elon Musk, the world's richest man, expresses the desire to fire every federal employee for no reason, so that cancer research grinds to a halt, and foreign aid grinds to a halt, and the lifesaving medications that we have already stockpiled are instead just wantonly destroyed, someone will say, 'No, thanks! Do not do that!' Or, if this does happen, the team doing it won't include an individual nicknamed Big Balls.' (When I got that specific, I should perhaps have said to myself, Doesn't that sound exactly like something that would happen? But you know what they say about predicting what will happen: much harder since all the NOAA cuts!) 'Surely they won't close down FEMA on the grounds that we won't need it after the hurricane season is over. The National Guard won't be deployed to the streets of California against the wishes of its governor, to stop people from assembling to object to the goons in face coverings loading their neighbors into unmarked vans. Maybe the president will personally take over the Kennedy Center so he can bring back the musical Cats, but if so, that will consume the majority of his time, and he will not also try to ram through Congress a bill that will prevent judges from enforcing their rulings against him, push millions of people off Medicaid, and increase the deficit, just for fun! Also, if I want to work at a place that is excited to publish a wide range of opinions about things that aren't free speech and free markets, that won't involve getting a different job at a different publication owned by a different billionaire!' (Hi!) Well, there is egg on my face. Which is still very expensive to have! I have pulled a rare reverse Rip van Winkle. Rip took a brief, well-deserved nap and woke up decades later to discover that his country no longer had a king. I did the opposite of that. Anyway, I am scared to nap now. Which is bad because I very much need to nap. I have a five-month-old. Five months is no time at all, if you are trying to grow something. As of this writing, my baby is still functionally helpless. You cannot even leave him on a flat surface, something you can safely do with plants or rocks. You have to put him in a special chair, or he will slowly tip over, like an ill-constructed cake. He can do nothing for himself. He is still getting the hang of rolling over. Instead, he just lies there and yells at you for putting him in that position. Other than that, he smiles all the time, the confused but accommodating smile of someone who has not quite heard your last remark but knows it would kill the conversation if he were to ask you to repeat it. He has no idea what is going on. Lucky him. Of course, none of this is news to anyone who has ever seen a baby, but it is a small miracle nonetheless. It is a wonder to me that everyone you see on the sidewalk underwent this process—was gently encouraged to roll over, had faces made at them and bubbles blown on their bellies until they laughed, was put in a hat and taken to the park. I am not putting him in a hat and taking him to the park. I am walking to my new job. They are getting the city ready for the tank parade. Donald Trump is the president, and he has bought himself a tank parade with the money we saved by getting rid of all the people who know how to stop fires in the national parks. A decision I am sure will be worth it! National parks don't last, but a tank parade is something you will always have. Every night, my son wakes up and cries. I get up and hold him until he stops. While I rock him, I stare into my phone, where they store the horrors. It has been three months since March 15, when our government shipped 238 men to a Gulag in El Salvador without due process. I sit there in the dark with his tiny fingers wrapped around my thumb and think about their mothers. I see now what my mistake was. Five months is no time at all to make something. But to destroy something—a minute is enough. Article originally published at The Atlantic
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'It's a lifeline': Milwaukee County unveils new $32M Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center
Milwaukee County unveiled its new $32 million Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center in the near north side's King Park neighborhood June 13, creating a hub for essential services and upgrading access for residents across the county. Hundreds of members of Milwaukee's political elite, family members of the building's namesake and residents gathered to visit the new site at 1230 W. Cherry St. The center is now home to the Department of Health and Human Services and provides behavioral health programming; housing and energy assistance resources; child, family and veteran services; an on-site food pantry; and wraparound services for youth with complex needs. The center is already open for walk-ins, referrals, and scheduled appointments. 'It's more than a building. It's a lifeline,' Shakita LaGrant-McClain, the county's health and human services executive director, told the crowd. The 60,000-square-foot building, which is the first new county construction in or near Milwaukee's downtown since the Criminal Justice Facility in 1992, is a stone's throw from the county's Mental Health Emergency Center. It figures as another step toward the county's overarching commitment to ensure a "No Wrong Door" policy when it comes to residents accessing behavioral health services, regardless of age, gender, race or socioeconomic status. After receiving county approval in 2022, the project was funded by $32 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. "This building represents the upstream investment in race and health equity for our entire community," Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said. "We will become the healthiest county in Wisconsin." The building is named after Marcia P. Coggs, a trailblazing advocate for human needs who was the first African American woman elected to the Wisconsin state Assembly and the first Black person to sit on the state Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. "(The center) embodies her belief that public service is not paperwork, it's personal, and because of her vision, every child with an empty stomach, every parent in crisis and every senior in need will be filled with compassion and resources that they deserve right here' said Milwaukee County Supervisor Priscilla Coggs-Jones, the granddaughter of Marcia P. Coggs. In late 2022, the sudden closure of the original Coggs location at 6055 N. 64th St. by Karen Timberlake, then the secretary-designee of the state Department of Health Services, followed a monthslong tussle at the county to demolish and rebuild the center or relocate out of concerns for accessibility as well as lead and asbestos issues. The former building was known to many as the place to access services related to FoodShare, Medicaid and GoPass. The original building, which was a former department store built in the 1920s, was later tapped to be developed into 65 affordable apartments. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County unveils Marcia P. Coggs Health & Human Services Center
Chicago Tribune
44 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Afternoon Briefing: Marines moved into Los Angeles amid protests
Good afternoon, Chicago. Former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan arrived today at the federal courthouse in downtown Chicago for his historic sentencing in a long-running corruption case that shook the state's political world to the core. Madigan, 83, who for years was widely hailed as the most powerful politician in the state, gave a slight smile as he strode past a horde of television news cameras with his lawyers and family members without comment. Carrying a briefcase and umbrella, he then headed to the 12th-floor courtroom of U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey. The hearing is expected to last two hours or more. Check back at for updates. Here's what else is happening today. And remember, for the latest breaking news in Chicago, visit and sign up to get our alerts on all your devices. Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History A lot of attention has been given to the Sox since the fandom of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, for the South Side baseball team was revealed. But religious women from local orders have frequented Sox games for decades. Read more here. More top news stories: President Donald Trump's administration this week provided deportation officials with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees, a move that could make it easier to locate people as part of his sweeping immigration crackdown. Read more here. More top business stories: Andrew Vaughn, the No. 3 pick in the 2019 draft, had been a prominent component of the Sox lineup since arriving in the majors in 2021. But he got off to a slow start this season and the Sox optioned him to Triple-A Charlotte on May 23. Read more here. More top sports stories: Juneteenth is more than just a holiday. It's a celebration of freedom, community and the rich tapestry of Black culture that continues to shape Chicago and the rest of the country. Read more here. More top Eat. Watch. Do. stories: After a week of tense protests over the federal immigration raids, about 200 Marines have moved into Los Angeles and will protect federal property and personnel, a military commander said. Read more here. More top stories from around the world:
