March 3rd 2019 Newsletter
Medicaid Expansion Through the Back Door
SB 605 passed committee last week in a back door attempt to sneak Medicaid expansion past the conservatives and the Governor's veto. The bill expands Insure Oklahoma, a state run private insurance subsidy program to citizens at three times the existing income level. The annual cost is said to be $141 million per year, pulling in $1.2 billion from the feds, at least for now till the feds change the funding formula.
The state already has over one million people on Medicaid, mostly disabled and low income families, and it is one of the larger budget items on the state budget and it is expected that around $321 million dollars per year in state funds will be needed. Oklahoma is one of a dozen or so states that has refused to expand Medicaid, Texas, Kansas, and Missouri are also in that list. Nationwide around 74 million Americans are getting free healthcare through Medicaid.
Tax dollars are confiscated dollars and ought to be only for what an individual cannot do for themselves. The welfare recipient has no skin in the game so isn't going to attempt to limit medical spending, the hospitals, doctors, and clinics see the welfare money as low level business that can be used to create demand and raise prices on services sold through insurance and private payers. It expands their customer base, generating small income from the poor who wouldn't use their services if they had to pay. All of this strips cash from working families and the wealthy alike and breeds new generations of welfare mothers who refuse to marry and thus support their own offspring.
Yes, medical care costs too much but what causes that is the insurance model and people not having skin in the game. Once people have to pay a significant part of medical care they choose more wisely and the service providers bring prices down to affordable levels. Expanding Medicaid is like giving a drunk the keys to the distillery.
Urge your senator and state rep to vote no on SB 605.
Did Someone Dig up Major Dirt on Comrade Chris Kannaday?
One of the bills in last sessions GOP Platform Index was a bill that closed down a well functioning and much needed veterans center in Talihina in favor of building a newer center in Sallisaw. The author of that wasteful bill was none other than Comrade Kannaday, AKA Chris Kannady the notorious terrorist defending former U.S. Marine turned state rep/political whore.
But last week HB 1149 passed committee and would repeal that legislation passed last year that would shut down the near 100 year old center and spend $100 million to re build a center at Sallisaw. Now Sallisaw is well deserving but it is also twenty miles from the Arkansas border, forcing patients and families to travel much further for care. Another notorious member of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell caucus named Josh West voted against the bill.
What was interesting was finding out that Comrade Kannady grew up near Talihina and after leading the fight to close down the veterans center now Comrade Kannady is on the other side. Last year Kannady argued that the building is beyond repair and the need to grab $65 million in federal funds meant moving the center.
The most likely scenario is that given Kannady grew up down there some good old boys recalled some stories from when Kannady grew up. Might be the often quite common story around the state of an FFA camp out gone wrong with a heifer and a future politician involved or salacious details of Kannady's younger misdeeds or perhaps a girl or boy coming forward from the past. No one is talking about the reversal of Comrade Kannady on the issue but something ugly is likely to be behind it, pardon the pun.
Another of Last Year's Index Legislation Being Turned Around
Another of the 2018 GOP Platform Index legislation bills was a bill that removed a small 1% refund for those that collected state sales tax. For decades this reimbursed some of the small businesses for having to track and collect the state sales tax. For a timely report, the reporter received one percent of what was collected. A tiny sum for many, quite generous for the Wal Marts and Amazons of the business world. Our view was that as these businesses were forced to collect the tax the very least would be to let them receive a pittance for the service. We did say that the total needed capped.
And surprise surprise, non other than RINO Rep. Harold Wright authored HB 2294 that triples the reward to 3% and caps it at $2500.00. The cost is estimated at $32,000,000 per year. Figure a small company selling $10,000 per month and owing $873.25 in tax keeping $26.00 for their trouble. But the larger stores would be making a tidy profit by that 3%.
Seems reasonable enough to allow the cow that trampled the grain to snatch a mouthful now and then but why the reversal? And the answer will be found in Harold Wright's campaign donations no doubt. One of the favorite schemes of legislators is to work both side of an issue, take away one year to please or repay one group, only to claw back what was lost the next year to please others.
OCPA Involved with the 2018 Attacks on Conservative Legislators?
A few weeks back a screen shot was circulating showing the notorious RINO campaign consultant Fount Holland being paid by OCPA for lobbying work. Someone did a bit more digging and turned up a link between OCPA and the batch of bastards that raised nearly three quarters of a million dollars to turn out a half dozen of the most conservative legislators in the state. In many cases by attacking their very conservative voting record and labeling them as liberals....
OTU, Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite ran an expose last week that helped shed a bit more light on what happened. They managed to tie Leo J. Baxter, an OCPA Board of Trustees Executive Committee member, the State Board of Education, and the owner of a Lawton based consulting firm with the attacks upon the conservatives. Signal Mountain Associates turned out to be co owned by Baxter and one Angela Little.
SMA was selling services for the teachers unions to Republicans and Democrats alike, including Drew Edmondson who was running against Stitt. Little appears to have been selling the “apple” awards, a little logo used to show support from the teachers unions during the election.
The big question asked by OTU is why an OCPA board member would be waging war on conservatives including opposing Kevin Stitt? And who is paying Baxter Little, and SMA? They asked readers to contact OCPA and ask for answers:
Oklahoma Council Of Public Affairs, 1401 N. Lincoln Blvd. Oklahoma City, OK 73104P: 405.602.1667 • F: 855.819.0085 ocpa@ocpathink.org
Charter Schools Under Attack from Teacher Union Legislators
A few weeks back we wrote of the surge of incoming teacher union House members and their attacks upon the Charter School system. The unions and most of the teachers hate charter schools for several reasons. First, the success of charter schools make the public schools look bad. Second, the charter schools hire only the best teachers and expect a lot of work and outcome from them while also paying them quite well. Third, the small amount that the charter schools take from tax coffers while outdoing the public schools is embarrassing for the public schools.
The third reason is the most troubling for the teacher unions, how can a charter school take $4200 per year and crank out a better performing student at one third the cost that a public school uses? The answer is in admin costs. A bill was defeated in committee this very week that would have asked that 60% of the money be spent in classrooms but it was soundly defeated in committee. The charter schools allocate around 10% as admin costs and profit.
But think about it, taking a student and only $4200 means twice that is left behind for the public school to waste. No kid to bus to school, feed, educate, yet $8200 is left in the education budget to be used for other kids or for higher levels of greed and waste. Why are they complaining?
Because the legislators, parents, and the kids themselves see this imbalance and everyone realizes that the sooner we phase out public schools the better the outcome for the state, for the kids, and even for the teachers. But the teachers would have to perform, educate or be paid less and for the average socialist teacher, that is a scary deal. For the unions it would be a death blow, nothing left to sell for the dues.
So it was not surprising to see one of the best and fastest growing charter schools come under attack last week. Epic Charter Schools became the target of both state and federal law enforcement agencies according to the Tulsa World. Their real crime is drawing in an additional 10,000 students this year as parents abandoned public schools due to the strike and the fear that their kids education would be disrupted once again this year. That led to the OSBI being turned loose on Epic, and the OSBI isn't releasing any details. However, the Tulsa World is quite liberal and a supporter of the teacher unions so they had access to some of the complaints that appear to be that some students have enrolled in both Epic and private schools. This appears to be as simple as a student's parents using a private company like Sylvan Learning centers who act more as tutors to kids. Epic of course would have no knowledge or control nor does there appear to be a law against a parent using a private tutor to help their kids.
Epic is simply making public schools look bad and educating kids better, at less cost, while paying teachers much more. A better mouse trap always outsells the old versions and that puts the teacher unions in a pickle. And since Epic's contract doesn't require disclosures that has enraged the teacher unions and their now elected sycophants who have turned to law enforcement to gather what they wish to know. In the end Epic either educates kids and gets them to pass or they lose money. It matters not on how they accomplish that task be it paying for better teachers or cutting out the useless indoctrination in politically correctness in order to teach testable skills.
Meanwhile enough people have seen what Epic can do that it is growing past the 10,000 2019 students, it now operates in Orange County, CA, runs public schools in Latimer County, at the Thunderbird Youth Academy in Pryor, and will take up educating students online in Pulaski County Arkansas in the fall of 2019.
Epic was attacked before by Mary Fallin in 2013 over allegations of fraud. One year later, the OSBI turned over the findings to the A.G.'s office and no charges were filed and no announcement was ever made clearing them of any wrong doing. Too embarrassed I would assume. Then in the summer of 2018 Tulsa and Oklahoma City Schools were visited by investigators from the Office of the Inspector General, charged with law enforcement of the U.S. Department of Education. The Tulsa World claims that they were looking into students enrolling in Epic Charter Schools while being enrolled in private schools. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the investigators were likely lured in by the Tulsa and OKC schools dangling out allegations against Epic. Otherwise, would not the investigators not just go to Epic for the info?
Meanwhile education caucus House members like Shelia Dills of Tulsa are pushing “accountability” bills aimed at the charter schools despite their minuscule use of funds for administration, as much as four times less than the public schools are taking. Her complaint is over $18 million in public funds flowing through charter schools rather than the 40% of the $5 billion dollars that public schools spend on administration costs each year. She wants full accounting including salary info on every dime that charter school spend, something that usually isn't required of state vendors of services or products.
The last charge against Epic and the other charter schools is a small amount of money spent by management for political contributions. Keep in mind that this comes from their profits, not part of their expenses before taxes. This is alleged political influencing while meantime the teachers unions raise millions to spend to oust conservative legislators and put their people in office to vote even more money for their schools.
The bottom line is that the Charter Schools do an excellent job educating students, higher grades, less admin spending, higher teacher pay, and at a cost that is one third what public schools receive per kid.
Please contact your state rep and senator and ask them to support the Charter Schools and push back against the failing public education and the teacher unions.
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