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Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Panel cans Oklahoma education rules dealing with immigration status and naturalization tests
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, presents a bill in the Senate chamber on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Photo by Janelle Stecklein/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – A bipartisan Senate panel on Wednesday voted to toss out two rules backed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters that dealt with monitoring student immigration status and that would require teachers to take the U.S. Naturalization Test. Senate Joint Resolution 22, authored by Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, approved many of the rules, but rejected two of the most controversial. One disapproved rule would require students to provide proof of U.S. citizenship when enrolling in public school. Under the rule, schools would have to report to the state the number of students who couldn't verify legal residency or citizenship. Walters has said the rule would help serve immigrant students by better accounting for the resources needed to accommodate them, but he has also said he would turn over the information collected to federal authorities if asked. The proposed rule has faced bipartisan opposition, including from Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that every child, regardless of immigration status, has a right to public education. Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City, said the proposed rule is unconstitutional. 'In addition to that, I'm concerned about the families that would be intimidated and perhaps would choose not to enroll their kids in school based on these requirements,' he said. Brooks, who is a member of the Senate Rules Committee, said the state does not win when children are discouraged from going to school. A second rule rejected by the Senate panel on Wednesday would require all public school teachers to pass the U.S. Naturalization test to earn or renew their certification. That rule has faced bipartisan opposition amid fears that it would deter qualified teachers from working in the state. 'It seems to me more political than policy based,' Brooks said. 'It seems like something to be able to get a headline, but it doesn't seem like something that necessarily helps with curriculum or anything else.' Bergstrom, the resolution's author, chairs the Senate Rules Committee. 'Over the last few years, we've been building a consensus of just how important it is for the Legislature to actually take on the job that we're tasked with and to reign in agencies that are doing things they shouldn't be doing or when there are errors made that need to be fixed,' Bergstrom said after the committee hearing. Administrative rules are supposed to build upon the laws legislators create. Because they have the force of law, all rules must be submitted to the Legislature for review. If lawmakers take no action, they go to the governor. If the governor does not act, they automatically take effect. The governor pledged to block the immigration rule. Bergstrom said there was probably no legislative authority for the Oklahoma State Department of Education to craft rules pertaining to citizenship checks and naturalization testing. The measure goes to the full Senate, where Bergstrom said it could be heard as early as next week. If SJR 22 is approved, the measure goes to the House for consideration. The State Department of Education didn't immediately respond to a request for comment as of publication. Editor Janelle Stecklein contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate Education Committee rejects attempt to make it harder to pay teachers' union dues
A bipartisan group of Oklahoma senators on Tuesday roundly rejected an attempt by a Republican colleague to make it harder for teachers to pay union dues. The Senate Education Committee voted 8-3 against Senate Bill 62, authored by state Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, which would have removed a requirement for school districts to make school employee payroll deductions for dues for professional organizations, such as unions, and for political contributions. Teachers' unions traditionally have collected dues from members by having them automatically withdrawn from their paycheck, should teachers choose to join a union. Bergstrom argued Tuesday individual teachers should be responsible for paying their union dues, instead of having the school district automatically withdraw those dues from the teacher's paycheck and send them to a union. He said his bill 'stops taxpayers subsidizing far-left teachers' unions.' 'We need to be familiar with what is going on here,' Bergstrom said. 'We have payroll deductions for union dues to organizations like the (Oklahoma Education Association), which gives almost $3 million a year to the (National Education Association) for a lot of left-wing ideology that's being pushed throughout our state and the country. In addition to that, they have political contributions that they are required to take and push through.' More: Teachers begin speaking out against Ryan Walters: 'You're putting students in jeopardy' Bergstrom, a former teacher, did not provide examples of what he meant by 'left-wing ideology.' Senators from both sides of the political aisle pounced. Sen. Aaron Reinhardt, R-Jenks, noted teachers could already voluntarily choose not to have union dues withdrawn. Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, said teachers currently have to opt into the automatic withdrawal every year and called Bergstrom's bill 'a step too far,' although Rader did end up voting for the bill after Bergstrom agreed to strike its title, a legislative move that can slow a bill's progress. Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, also has been a teacher. She simply asked Bergstrom, 'Why would we remove this?' She later asked if Bergstrom had considered removing automatic deductions for other public employees, such as police officers and firefighters. 'I'm only dealing with schools,' Bergstrom replied. Again, Hicks asked, 'Why?' 'That's all I decided to deal with, is schools,' Bergstrom said. Torie Luster Pennington, the president of another teachers' union, the Oklahoma City chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said she was pleased to see Bergstrom's bill defeated. She called Bergstrom's assertions that taxpayer dollars are subsidizing unions 'absolutely false.' 'We have worked hard on this every year to defeat it in committee,' Pennington said. 'Hopefully, it means that it won't need be brought up every year like it has been. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OK Senate committee rejects bill to make teacher union dues harder to pay
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate committee rejects Oklahoma bill forbidding teacher paycheck deductions for union dues
Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, sought to ban payroll deductions for teacher union dues with Senate Bill 62. The bill failed in the Senate Education Committee. (Photo by Kyle Phillips/For Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — A Senate committee on Tuesday struck down a bill that attempted to ban a common way teacher unions collect dues from their members. The Senate Education Committee passed a similar bill last year to prohibit payroll deductions for teacher union dues, but this time the panel voted 7-3 against the idea in a bipartisan decision. Republican lawmakers and state leaders have tried multiple times over the past decade to prohibit teachers from paying for professional organization membership through payroll deductions. Sen. Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, refiled the legislation this year as Senate Bill 62. He equated these paycheck deductions to 'taxpayers subsidizing far-left teacher unions.' Bergstrom said teachers still could join unions under his bill, but a school couldn't submit their due payments through payroll. 'Anyone can contribute to whatever organization they want to on their own,' he said during the committee meeting. Outlawing all automatic deductions is 'just a step too far,' Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, said. Rader ended up casting one of the three votes in favor of the bill after Bergstrom struck title, which means the author would have more flexibility to make changes to it. The bill also had support from the committee's chair, Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and vice chair, Sen. Ally Seifried, R-Claremore, who wrote similar legislation last year. The bill's failure in its first committee hearing prompted celebrations from union leaders after the vote. Hopefully, it means lawmakers won't pursue it again next year, said Torie Pennington, president of the Oklahoma City chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. Banning automatic due payments would create a burdensome task for teachers, Pennington said, and it would consume more of the organization's time that is better spent supporting schools and educators. 'I'm proud of the committee members who voted no and realize that having unions is just a benefit for the schools, a benefit for the teachers and a benefit for the students, ultimately,' Pennington said after the committee vote. Eliminating automatic payments to teacher unions has been a longtime objective of some conservatives. In 2015, former Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law a prohibition on payroll deductions from state employees to unions that collectively bargain under federal law. But, the law doesn't stop these payments from going to organizations that negotiate under state law or to groups that don't collectively bargain at all, according to a 2023 opinion from Attorney General Gentner Drummond. The attorney general issued the opinion after state Superintendent Ryan Walters expressed interest in banning the practice and after lawmakers requested clarity on existing state law. Drummond found the 2015 law was intended to block state employees' payroll deductions from going to national, out-of-state unions. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
