Latest news with #OklahomaOpenRecordsAct
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma agencies publish private school tax credit recipients under transparency law
Evie Jenney teaches theology at Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Oklahoma City on May 20, 2024. The school is one of more than 200 participating in the Parental Choice Tax Credit. (Photo by Ted Streuli/Oklahoma Watch) Oklahoma officials have released the names of the thousands of taxpayers who received the new Parental Choice Tax Credit for tuition and expenses at private schools. After repeated requests by Oklahoma Watch dating back to December, the Oklahoma Tax Commission sent the tax credit recipient data to the state's open data website. The information is limited to just the name of the taxpayer and the amount of private school tax credits they received in 2024. It doesn't include school or student information. The tax credit program provides up to $7,500 annually per child for private school expenses. Lawmakers capped the overall cost of the program at $150 million in tax year 2024, but it rises to $250 million in tax year 2026. If they qualified, most taxpayers received half the credit early in the year and the other half later in the year. The total credit amount doesn't show how many children in a family received the private school tuition tax credit. The top recipient received more than $24,000 in tax credits in the second half of 2024, according to the data. The data is posted at the state's open data website, which is maintained by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Oklahoma Watch requested private school tax credit data in December from the Tax Commission under the Oklahoma Open Records Act and the Oklahoma Taxpayer Transparency Act. Though most taxpayer data is confidential, recipients of tax credits are an exception under the taxpayer transparency law. Lawmakers passed that law in 2010 to address budget planning issues caused by transferable tax credits. Initially, the Tax Commission referred Oklahoma Watch's request to the state's open data website, which lacked the relevant data. Commission attorneys later determined the data could only be released through the Office of Management and Enterprise Services. Although the Tax Commission administers the program, it would not release the data directly. After a delay and agency miscommunication, the data was finally posted on the state's open data site on April 29. The Tax Commission last week released its latest snapshot of the recipients of the Parental Choice Tax Credit. It showed just 2,963 of the 36,921 students approved for the tax credit so far this year were enrolled in public school the previous semester. In setting up the program, lawmakers gave priority consideration to families making an adjusted gross income of less than $75,000. Proponents frequently referred to that group as 'low income,' even though the state's median household income is $63,600. About 2,700, or 9%, of the students in the program came from families that qualify for income-based public assistance programs, according to the data snapshot. More than 27,000 students receiving the private school tax credit – almost 75% – came from families with household incomes above $75,000, according to the latest Tax Commission data. Shiloh Kantz, executive director of the Oklahoma Policy Institute, said at a minimum, lawmakers should put additional accountability measures into the Parental Choice Tax Credit program. She said it would be helpful to know which private school the student attended and the local public school district. There should also be regular audits of the credit and the percentage of audits where errors were found. Those types of safeguards are built into state and federal programs like the earned-income tax credit, food stamps and Medicaid that benefit low-income families. 'We got told this program will uplift educational outcomes, that it offers families educational choice and opportunity through that choice,' Kantz said. 'But really it just rewards those people who can already afford private education, and it just leaves our public school students further behind, especially in a state where one in five kids live in poverty.' Kantz said few private schools are adding capacity to take additional students. Meanwhile, some schools have increased tuition since the tax credit was implemented. 'So it is not about having parental choice,' Kantz said. 'It is about checking a box as a political red state to say, 'We did the thing.' But it's not helping working Oklahomans.' The Legislature considered several changes to the program this year. Lawmakers didn't act on Senate Bill 229, by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, this session. It would have eliminated the $250 million annual cap on the private school tax credit, a change Gov. Kevin Stitt called for at a rally at the Capitol in March celebrating the private school tax credit program. SB 684, by Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, could come up for a vote in the House this week. It mostly deals with accreditation organizations for private schools participating in the Parental Choice Tax Credit. But it also prioritizes existing recipients if they still meet income eligibility requirements. This article first appeared on Oklahoma Watch and is republished here.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Yahoo
Bartlesville police confirm investigation at Madison Middle School
Amid an ongoing police investigation into "allegations" at Madison Middle School, Principal Joey Eidson has resigned, district officials confirmed Wednesday. Bartlesville Police denied escorting any personnel from school grounds on March 28, despite social media rumors that suggest Eidson had been removed from the campus. Eidson has not been charged with any crime. 'No one has been arrested or charged with a crime,' the department said in a statement. 'The Bartlesville Police Department has been made aware of allegations that reportedly happened at Madison Middle School. Those allegations are currently under investigation.' Bartlesville Public Schools declined to comment directly on the investigation. It remains unclear what allegations the investigation is pursuing. 'We have no comment on active investigations other than that we routinely cooperate with our police department to prioritize the safety of our students and staff,' the district said Friday. As of Wednesday morning, Eidson was no longer listed in the school's online staff directory. The district confirmed that the school board is expected to consider his resignation at a meeting at noon on April 9 at and possibly appoint Assistant Principal Brent Massey as the new principal. The district said that it does not comment on active personnel matters unless required by the Oklahoma Open Records Act, which covers final disciplinary actions such as suspension, demotion, or termination. Attempts to reach Eidson for comment have not been successful. This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Bartlesville police investigating Madison Middle School allegations
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ryan Walters at the nexus of Oklahoma lawsuits over transparency, religious freedom
State Superintendent Ryan Walters gives the Oklahoma flag salute during a meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education on Feb. 27 in Oklahoma City. An Oklahoma County lawsuit accuses Walters' administration of violating state transparency laws. It was filed a day after Walters himself initiated an unrelated lawsuit. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — In a litigious week for Oklahoma's top education official, state Superintendent Ryan Walters has both sued and been sued by advocacy groups. The Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Walters, his administration and the state Board of Education in Oklahoma County District Court. The lawsuit accuses the Oklahoma State Department of Education of violating open meetings laws and of improperly withholding records detailing Walters' Library Media Advisory Committee. In an unrelated matter, Walters sued the Freedom From Religion Foundation on Monday in Muskogee federal court, complaining of the cease-and-desist letters the Wisconsin-based organization has sent to Oklahoma schools over alleged violations of church-state separation. 'Oklahoma will never be bullied by radical, out-of-state atheists who use intimidation and harassment against kids,' Walters said in a statement. The two organizations have been involved in a court battle against Walters before. Both supplied attorneys to a pending lawsuit challenging Walters' purchase of Bibles with state funds and his mandate that schools teach from the Christian text. Walters' lawsuit accused the Freedom from Religion Foundation of inhibiting religious freedom in Achille Public Schools when it discouraged the southeast Oklahoma district from having student-led prayer during morning announcements. The foundation called the lawsuit frivolous and said it won't back down. The civil suit filed against Walters on Tuesday was 'nothing more than a politically motivated attack,' Walters said in a statement through a spokesperson. 'These extremists are using the legal system to harass and obstruct progress in an effort to push their radical agenda,' Walters said. Oklahoma Appleseed filed its case after the state agency failed to provide details of the formation, membership selection and activities of the Library Media Advisory Committee despite repeated requests, according to the lawsuit. The Tulsa-based nonprofit requested that a judge order the Education Department to release the records and pay for the group's attorney fees. The lawsuit also asked a judge to declare that the agency violated the Oklahoma Open Records Act and that the advisory committee broke the state's Open Meeting Act, which requires government boards to conduct their business in public view. 'This lawsuit is about government transparency and accountability,' Oklahoma Appleseed legal director Brent Rowland said in a statement. 'The public has a right to know who is making decisions affecting its public schools. Oklahomans have a right to expect that their government will follow the law regarding open records and open meetings.' The Education Department has said it doesn't view the advisory committee as a 'public body' subject to open meeting laws. 'The Library Media Advisory Committee is a volunteer-based group responsible for reviewing books for suitability to minor students based on content,' the agency's open records office wrote to Oklahoma Voice on Dec. 17 in response to a request for documents. 'Please note that this committee is exempt from the Open Meetings Act, as it does not have decision-making authority or engage in formal deliberations. It does not meet the legal definition of a 'public body,' as it does not conduct meetings or engage in decision-making activities. Its role is solely advisory, and it is not supported by, nor entrusted with the management of, public funds or property.' Walters formed the advisory committee in 2023 to review whether certain books are age-appropriate for schools or whether they violate state rules against sexual content. Following the committee's recommendation, the Education Department ordered Edmond Public Schools to remove the best-selling novels 'The Kite Runner' and 'The Glass Castle' from its high school libraries. Edmond appealed to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, who decided that local schools, not the state Education Department, have control over what books to keep on their library shelves. Walters and his administration have refused to disclose the names of the advisory committee members but one — out-of-state social media personality Chaya Raichik, who runs an account known as Libs of TikTok. Raichik and the Library Media Advisory Committee also are named as defendants in the Oklahoma Appleseed lawsuit. '(The state Education Department) will not be bullied by extremist organizations trying to weaponize the courts and remains committed to transparency and compliance with all legal requirements,' Walters said. The state agency has denied multiple requests from news media, including Oklahoma Voice, to identify the rest of the committee's members. Email records the agency provided to Oklahoma Voice were heavily redacted to cover up individuals' names. The Education Department's open records office has so far refused to cite a state law requiring that these names be kept confidential. Oklahoma Appleseed contended these records should be available to the public with 'narrowly tailored and legally justified redactions.' 'In this instance, the state Department of Education has formed a Library Media Advisory Committee to make decisions about students' access to books when our state Supreme Court has determined those decisions should be made by local school boards,' Rowland said. 'State officials cannot hide behind closed doors and avoid public accountability, and why would they want to?' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
