Editorial Roundup: Recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers

Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:

Muskogee Phoenix. March 30, 2018.

A quality education trains the brain and the heart.

Focusing on the brain gives students the opportunity to succeed in the workplace by outfitting them with the necessary tools.

The education system also has the ability to train the heart - to help raise a generation of better people.

The Oklahoma School for the Blind’s annual Give Back Day is a great example of educators giving students an opportunity to learn good citizenship and the reward of helping others.

Approximately 70 students participated in the sixth year of the event.

Students helped in a variety of ways including:

- Donating more than 200 pounds of food to the Muskogee Community Food Pantry;

- Sorting bed linens at the Gospel Rescue Mission;

- Visiting residents at Dogwood Creek Assisted Living Center;

- Helping at the Noon Lions Club Pancake Breakfast;

- Picking up litter along York Street; and

- Cleaning around the OSB campus.

Malerie Levens, a junior from Owasso, said she appreciated the opportunity to help at the Gospel Rescue Mission.

“I see what they don’t have, and it makes me thankful for what I have,” she said. “And I just want to help them.”

The students will grow empathy. They will learn the value of service to community.

The students will soon be able to combine lessons learned in the classroom with the lessons learned during programs such as Give Back Day to make the world a better place.

And that’s a quality education.

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Tulsa World. April 2, 2018.

Some alumni of the Tulsa elementary school formerly named after Robert E. Lee are upset about the name change and are reportedly reconsidering their financial support of the school and its centennial celebration.

“For right now, we are at risk of severing this relationship (with the alumni community), and it’s bigger than money,” said Sarah Dougherty, a Lee parent who is leading the centennial committee. “It is a community of people that really care about this school. At this present time with this situation going on, these people rightly feel that their engagement is being diminished by this possible complete name change.”

The school’s foundation has received more than $250,000 from alumni in the past five years.

We understand those concerns, but they don’t change our thinking about renaming the school.

We admire alumni who are true to their school and willing to support public education with their money. They are essential to many things.

But surely their loyalty to the school goes beyond its name. The community has decided it no longer wants to honor Robert E. Lee, who led an army in rebellion against the U.S. government, by putting his name on an elementary school. Although the name will change, the building, its history and mission will not. We think most alumni and patrons will recognize that and won’t change their minds about supporting the school in the future.

If they do, the district should genuinely thank them for their generous support in the past and move on.

Those who support the name change also should take this as a challenge to put their money where their hearts are.

No matter what its name is in the future, the elementary school at the corner of 21st Street and Cincinnati Avenue - one of Tulsa’s oldest, proudest and best - deserves the support of the community.

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The Oklahoman. April 3, 2018.

Given the cool response that a governor’s task force on state occupational licensing received from many Oklahoma agencies, it’s no great surprise that a bill to follow through on the task force’s recommendations is getting some blowback at the Legislature. That doesn’t make this effort any less disappointing, however.

The task force was formed to ensure occupational licensing in Oklahoma protects the public rather than reduces industry competition. There are many occupations where licensing through the state makes sense, but many others where it doesn’t. When licensing is unneeded or its requirements are excessive, that can impact job opportunities particularly for low-income people.

The task force’s No. 1 recommendation was for the Legislature to create a commission and, using a blueprint provided by the task force, review Oklahoma’s occupational licensing requirements to weigh their effectiveness. Senate Bill 1475, by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, would do exactly that.

The commission would have no authority to make changes to occupational licenses. Instead, it would simply be able to make recommendations, similar to how the state’s Incentive Evaluation Commission works. Creation of this commission also would have no fiscal impact.

SB 1475 sailed to easy passage in the Senate not long ago. However, since then some groups have quietly been urging House members to think twice about approving the bill.

Pugh said concerns that “it’s happening too fast, that people have not had time to properly vet this” are way off base, and he’s right. The task force met for several months, during which numerous public hearings were held. The task force’s recommendations were widely publicized. Pugh filed his bill before the session - this isn’t some stealth campaign aimed at turning professions upside down.

Instead, it’s a responsible way of trying to improve the job market in Oklahoma. Having less burdensome licensing regulations, where it makes sense to do so, or making those regulations more consistent opens the door for more Oklahomans to find work. This effort has support from groups on both ends of the political spectrum, an indication of how sensible it is.

“I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want a commission that’s going to have the time and resources available, with industry expertise . to sort through a lot of the data that the Legislature doesn’t have the time to do, and then present us with recommendations,” Pugh said.

But some industries are concerned foremost with protecting their turf, and so they naturally object to changes to the status quo. This explains why the task force had a challenging time compiling the information for its report. After finding a significant lack of data about occupational licensing, the governor conducted a survey through her Cabinet secretaries but “many agencies were not very responsive,” the task force said. When further requests were made, task force members were “disappointed with the quality and quantity of the data that was received.”

Trying to throw a wrench into this legislative effort is a variation on the same theme. House members should reject this effort and send the bill to the governor’s desk.