Getting Behind by Getting Ahead

David Blatt at OK Policy does a nice job of explaning the “cliff effect”, whereby people lose important public benefits as their earnings increase. This means that struggling families who manage to raise their incomes face a sort of “tax” on their efforts toward economic self-sufficiency:
The cliff effect is most dramatic for Medicaid health insurance [...]

Read Full Post »

The Politics of Oklahoma Education

David Blatt at the Oklahoma Policy Institute details some odd alliances in the Oklahoma legislature over education reform:
But on SB 1111, a bill authored by Sen. Clark Jolley that moves various education reporting and accountability functions from the State Department of Education to the Office of Accountability based with the Regents for Higher Education, it [...]

Read Full Post »

More Okie Wonkery Coming Your Way

The Oklahoma Policy Institute announced the coming launch of their very own blog. Citizens take note: you will have no excuse to lack basic (and thorough!) awareness of the most important policy issues facing our state. That includes this frightening fact: state revenues for February came in 30.4 percent below projections. That’s $104 million that [...]

Read Full Post »

Stimulus on the Radio

If you’re like us and you’re a huge David Blatt fan* (and who isn’t?), you can catch him on the Studio Tulsa replay tonight at 7:30pm on Tulsa’s NPR affiliate, KWGS 89.5.  David will be talking up OK Policy Institute and what Oklahoma can expect to get from the stimulus package. So if you’re sitting [...]

Read Full Post »

Numbers We Need

Oklahoma Policy Institute puts out a monthly publication called Numbers You Need, capturing key economic and budget trends in Oklahoma. It’s a good quick way to keep track of conditions in our state.
Their February report (PDF) indicates that the state is faring better than the rest of the nation, with key indicators moving more mildly [...]

Read Full Post »