Latest news with #Bill139
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cellphones will be banned in Oklahoma schools for 2025-26 school year: What to know
Oklahoma students won't have access to their cellphones while at school and will have fewer virtual school days under bills signed into law by Gov. Kevin Stitt. Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, and Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, worked for two years toward the passage of Senate Bill 139. The new law will require public school districts to limit student cellphone use during the school day ― from 'bell to bell' — for the entire 2025-26 school year. After that, district officials will have the flexibility to adjust their cellphone policies as they see fit. Seifried said the law is aimed at creating distraction-free learning environments for students. 'This will allow teachers to focus entirely on educating our kids while students can concentrate on learning as much as possible," she said. "After two years of hard work on this issue, I'm thrilled to see this legislation become law, and I'm confident students, parents and teachers will see immediate benefits once the new school year begins." Under the new law, district cellphone policies must make exceptions for students who need their phones to manage a medical condition and allow phone use in emergencies. Additionally, districts must clearly outline disciplinary actions for students who violate a school's phone-free policy. Virtual-days bill signed over objections of some rural schools Sen. Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond, and Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton, authored Senate Bill 758, which will restrict Oklahoma school districts to only two virtual days per school year that can count toward the 180-day or 1,080-hour school year instructional requirement. The new law will require each district school board to approve a local virtual instruction plan that addresses special education services, nutrition for students who receive free or reduced lunches, transportation access to career tech programs and an assessment of students' internet accessibility. Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said the measure was important to him and thanked Thompson for making the bill a priority. A bill limiting virtual days in Oklahoma schools, authored by Sen. Kristen Thompson, of Edmond, has been signed into law. 'I truly believe the best place for our kids to learn is in the classroom," Paxton said. "Once this becomes law, it will help with learning, social skills and working parents who have to schedule their lives around arbitrary virtual learning days.' Thompson spent two legislative sessions shepherding the bill, but she has received considerable pushback from leaders of small, rural school districts, some of which offer four-day school weeks — with either a virtual day or an off day on the fifth day ― as incentives to attract teachers to work in their districts. Erika Buzzard Wright, the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition, called Stitt's decision to sign the bill 'a significant setback' for rural school districts. She said voices from rural schools were "completely ignored throughout the legislative process' and said the new law 'effectively strips local districts of the ability to make decisions that best serve their students.' 'This is a slap in the face to local control — especially for rural districts that have worked tirelessly to attract and retain qualified educators,' Wright said. 'Our schools are already competing with neighboring states that not only offer better pay, but also embrace flexible, innovative school calendars.' She predicted schools located near Oklahoma's borders with other states will have teachers poached as a result. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: When will Oklahoma's cellphone ban in schools begin? What to know
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House committee discards bill requiring potty training before pre-K
A House committee on Wednesday rejected a bill to require potty training for children entering pre-K and passed legislation banning cellphones in schools. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — A bill that would require children to be toilet trained before entering pre-K has failed in a House vote. The House Common Education Committee struck down Senate Bill 382 by vote of 8-3 on Wednesday. The bill would have permitted public schools to temporarily withdraw a student after three or more soiling incidents until the child is toilet trained. Schools also could connect families with toilet training resources. Students with disabilities would have been exempt from the rule. The legislation from Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, and Rep. Marilyn Stark, R-Bethany, passed almost unanimously through the full Senate. Bullard said a lack of toilet training puts 'an undue burden on the schools.' But, a bipartisan group of House lawmakers opposed it on Wednesday. The committee panned the bill without discussion nor debate. Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City, said after the meeting that the bill could impact children who haven't yet been recognized as having a disability. Some children aren't identified for disability assistance until after they are enrolled in school, she said. Toileting resistance is more common among young children who have autism or developmental delays, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'That bill wasn't going to help the kids that need it most,' Pogemiller said. Also on Wednesday, the committee advanced a bill with an 8-3 vote that would ban students from using cellphones in public schools for a year. Senate Bill 139 would allow districts to decide whether to keep the cellphone ban in place after the 2025-26 school year. A similar bill that originated in the House passed through the Senate Education Committee the day before. House Bill 1276 would require districts to implement a policy restricting cellphone use during the school day, but it would allow local school boards to opt out and continue permitting cellphones if they wish. Lawmakers from both chambers now will have to negotiate which bill language they prefer to send to the governor's desk. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas House considering allowing employers to provide less health insurance
In most cases, your health insurance must cover a list of certain services such as cancer screenings even if you get it from your employer. The proposed Texas House Bill 139 could remove that requirement and let a company provide an "Employer Choice of Benefits Plan" that does not provide all those state-mandated services. The bill was filed by Rep. Jay Dean, R-Longview, who is the chair of the House Committee on Insurance. Dean's office did not respond to questions from the American-Statesman on the bill. State-mandated services include: Providing coverage for newborn children, students, adopted children and certain grandchildren. This includes children up to age 26. Supplies and services for diabetes care Serious mental illness coverage Childhood vaccines Hearing screenings Covering an out-of-network specialist when an in-network specialist is not available Cancer screenings, including mammograms, colonoscopy or other colon cancer screenings, pap smears and prostate cancer screenings. The health benefit plan would have to share with employees this disclaimer: "This Employer Choice of Benefits Plan, either wholly or partly, does not provide state-mandated health benefits normally required in health benefit plans in Texas. This employer health benefit plan may provide a more affordable health benefit plan for you, although, at the same time, it may provide you with fewer health benefits than those normally included as state-mandated health benefits in health benefit plans in Texas. Please consult with your insurance agent to discover which state-mandated health benefits are excluded from this health benefit plan." The plan then has to give a list of mandated health benefits it is not providing. If this bill becomes law on Sept. 1, "it would allow insurers to offer plans that fail to meet basic expectations that most Texas patients have," said Katherine McLane, spokesperson of Texas Coalition for Patients. She said the coalition believes this legislation would "throw away" 35 bills of protection from the past five legislative sessions. The employer choice of benefits plan still would have to follow federal rules set by the Affordable Care Act, which does include preventative cancer screenings, newborn screenings and vaccines, for example. The coalition worries that as the ACA continues to be attacked at the federal level, Texans can't rely on federal law to continue to uphold health care insurance protections, said the coalition's Talan Tyminski. "Mental health, children's health care, those would all be gone," she said. Dean has another bill that also has the coalition frustrated. HB 138 would create the Health Impact, Cost and Coverage Analysis Program that would create a report of any added cost that mandated health legislation would have on insurance providers or the state, as well as individuals. That report also would analyze if the legislation would increase or decrease the use of health services. The Center for Health Care Data at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston would create the report, but McLane worries patients and providers would be left out of the decision-making. "This has the stink of big insurance all over it," she said. "We can't exclude patients and Texans from it and (from) taking a wholistic view of health care." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Employer health insurance bill in Texas could reduce coverage mandates
