Latest news with #HB1727
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Teacher incentives, math education bills become law in Oklahoma
Skelly Elementary teacher Charity Hargrave leads a reading exercise with a small group of fifth graders in Tulsa on April 9, 2024. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Longtime Oklahoma teachers will continue earning annual salary increases for an extra 10 years, and their children will qualify for a major state-funded scholarship under new laws the governor signed this week. Gov. Kevin Stitt approved House Bill 1087 on Tuesday to extend the teacher salary schedule, which grants annual incremental pay raises, up to 35 years. The bill also adds one day to the minimum length of an Oklahoma school year, stretching it to 181 instructional days in public schools. HB 1727, which Stitt also signed Tuesday, opens the Oklahoma's Promise college scholarship to the children of classroom teachers with at least 10 years of experience. Oklahoma's Promise pays an amount equal to full resident tuition at a public college or university. The state's largest teacher union, the Oklahoma Education Association, celebrated both bills as ways to retain veteran educators. Offering scholarship funds to educators' children is a 'powerful step for Oklahoma valuing its teachers and their households,' OEA President Cari Elledge said. 'By granting Oklahoma's Promise Scholarship to children of certified educators with at least a decade of service, this bill eases the college burden on our families while incentivizing long-term commitment to our schools,' Elledge, a former Norman teacher, said. 'OEA championed this from committee rooms to the governor's desk because addressing the educator shortage requires meaningful investment.' The governor also signed a bill offering grants to school districts that are trying to boost the pipeline of new teachers. Senate Bill 235 offers matching funds to districts that have established Grow Your Own Educator programs, which give undergraduate college tuition assistance or loan repayment to aspiring teachers. The bill's author, Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, said lawmakers set aside $5 million for these grants. Pugh, who leads the Senate Education Committee, said the slate of school-focused bills the Legislature passed this year are 'building a stronger foundation for Oklahoma's future.' 'Each of these measures reflects our commitment to supporting students, empowering teachers and ensuring every child in our state has access to a high-quality education,' Pugh said in a statement. Multiple bills emphasizing math also passed. Stitt approved HB 1287, giving $3 million to the University of Oklahoma for a math tutoring program assisting the lowest-performing ninth graders. Qualifying students must attend a school district with enrollment of at least 30,000 or a public charter school. The governor also signed on Tuesday the Oklahoma Math Achievement and Proficiency Act, also known as SB 140. It's expected to cost $1 million, according to a fiscal impact estimate from legislative staff. The new law requires public schools to screen students' math proficiency three times a year in grades 2-5. Schools must create a math intervention plan for children who score below their grade level and could receive extra funds dedicated for these students. Struggling students also must be screened for dyscalculia, a learning disability affecting comprehension of arithmetic. Those who screen above their grade level in math must be offered advanced learning opportunities. 'Senate Bill 140 is a critical step forward in improving math outcomes across our state,' the bill's author, Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, said. 'By identifying students who need additional help or more advanced instruction, they will now have personalized support to ensure every child can succeed.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Int'l Business Times
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Virginia House Candidate Reveals She's a Swinger Before Opponents Can 'Dig Up' Her Lifestyle: 'I Don't Do Shame'
A Virginia House of Delegates candidate revealed that she and her husband are swingers, preemptively disclosing their consensual non-monogamous lifestyle before political opponents could use it against her campaign. Yvonne Rorrer, 47, is a Democrat running for the House of Delegates in Virginia's newly drawn 47th district, a traditionally Republican stronghold, according to Huffington Post. After years in property management and court advocacy for abused children, Rorrer entered politics in response to her opponent's vote against HB1727, a bill that would strip parental rights from rapists. In a candid social media post, Rorrer disclosed that she and her husband of 22 years have been practicing ethical nonmonogamy for about two and a half years. Though they haven't been intimate with other couples in recent months, Rorrer said she wanted to get ahead of potential smears, especially in her small hometown of Stuart, Virginia. The reaction to her post has been a mix of support, judgment, and mockery—ranging from online trolls to disapproving in-laws—but she remains unfazed, emphasizing that her relationship is built on trust and communication. The announcement triggered a wave of online commentary, including accusations of impropriety and declarations of moral outrage. Still, Rorrer said most of her core supporters have not wavered. "In politics, people love to dig up the unexpected and spin it into a spectacle," she said. "I don't do shame, and I sure won't give anyone else the opportunity to tell my story." While she doesn't expect the revelation to boost her campaign, she believes it won't significantly harm her chances either. Originally published on Latin Times
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Virginia House Candidate Comes Out As A Swinger Ahead Of November Election
Yvonne Rorrer figured someone would out her on the campaign trail, so she got ahead of the story and did it herself. Rorrer, a Democraticcandidate for Virginia's House of Delegates in the 47th district, revealed Saturday on social media that she is married and ethically nonmonogamous, meaning she and her husband consensually date other couples together. 'In politics, people love to dig up the unexpected and spin it into a spectacle,' the 47-year-old wrote on social media. 'I don't do shame, and I sure won't give anyone else the opportunity to tell my story.' Rorrer told HuffPost on Tuesday that while no one was threatening to out her, she believes word of her lifestyle would have gotten out of her inner circle inStuart, Virginia, her hometown with a population of just over 1,000. 'What we do is together, and is often categorized under the term of 'swingers,' which has been around since the dawn of the sexual revolution. It's a large community of people,' Rorrer told HuffPost. 'This is not something that we have hidden from our adult children, our closest friends, the majority of our family members,' she added. 'This has been our way of life for several years, and so it it would have come out. And if it was going to come out, I would rather it be for me and in my own words.' Rorrer and her husband of 22 years have been practicing ethical nonmonogamy for about two and a half years. They haven't been intimate with another couple in six months, however, she said. After Rorrer revealed the information on social media, the internet had plenty to say — 'TMI,' 'degenerate lifestyle,' 'I guess Virginia is for lovers' — and Rorrer personally replied to many of the messages she received onthe first day. Now, she said, her notifications are silenced, so she doesn't see the responses. Rorrer said the reactions have been mixed. Her dad told her it 'doesn't pull a hair off my ass.' Other family members, however, didn't know about it until she posted about it on social media. Rorrer's husband's parents are upset, she said — almost as upset as when they found out Rorrer is running for the delegate seat as a Democrat. Rorrer is a newbie to politics. She worked in property management for 20 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, then spent her time volunteering by representing child abuse victims in the court system. After her opponent, Wren Williams, voted against HB1727, which states that a person convicted of rape can't have parental rights of the child born of the rape, Rorrer decided to join the race. 'That's what did it for me,' Rorrer told HuffPost. 'I have no political background, but I have a mouth and I have an opinion, and that did it. That pretty much did it for me.' Politicians' sex lives have been subject to scrutiny since the beginning. Stan Pulliam — former mayor of Sandy, Oregon, and a 2022 Republican candidate for Oregon governor — came clean in 2022 about being a part of a swingers' group in 2016. Christian Ziegler, the former chairman of the Florida Republican party, perused bars looking for women to bring home to his wife, Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a far-right group aimed at getting conservatives elected to school boards, according to a police report related to a rape accusation made against Christian Ziegler. Madison Cawthorn, a former Republican member of Congress, said politicians have invited him to orgies. Rorrer might be the first to be open about her nontraditional lifestyle from the beginning. 'It doesn't have to be for you,' she said. 'There's a lot of things that aren't for me, but I don't judge people for it, unless they're hurting somebody. What consensual adults do behind closed doors and in their relationships belong to them. It's 2025. It's time for people to start respecting the fact that people can make choices for their own lives that work for them. Me and my husband are happy. We are happy, and I'll be honest with you, our relationship and our communication and the depth of which we were able to love grew stronger after we got into this lifestyle than it had ever been, and it was because we had to communicate.' Does she think the announcement will help her campaign? 'No,' she said with a laugh. But she said she didn't think it would hurt her chances, either. 'I think the people who were going to vote for me anyway will still vote for me,' she said. 'Democrats ... tend to be open to the differences in lifestyles and allowing people to be who they are. It's the more religious people who are judging us the hardest right now. You know, we're going to hell.' Virginia's 47th House of Delegates district typically votes red. The district was redistricted from the 9th House of Delegates district, which voted for a Republican representative for House of Delegates all the way back to at least 2008. 'I will have to now probably rely on all the swingers in the country to fund my campaign,' Rorrer said with a laugh. I Went To A Nudist Swingers Resort Without My Girlfriend. Here's What Happened. Kristen Bell And Dax Shepard Want You To Know They Are Definitely Not Swingers, OK? I Was A 'Unicorn,' A Single Female Swinger, But My Sex Life Was Far From Magical
