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Workers Are Paying the Price for Federal and State Refusal to Raise the Minimum Wage
Workers nationwide deserve wages that keep pace with the real cost of living.
Jun 07, 2026
For years, Congress and elected officials across the country have sidestepped one of the clearest economic problems facing working families: The minimum wage no longer keeps pace with the real cost of living.
Today, even full-time work at the federal minimum wage doesn’t pay enough to rent a market-rate two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the country. And too often, politicians have intervened to keep it that way.
For example, I live in Oklahoma, where the state minimum wage has been tied to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour since 2009. As a result, a full-time minimum-wage worker here earns about $15,000 a year before taxes—below the poverty line for an individual and wholly inadequate to survive.
This problem did not happen by accident.
An economy works best when working people can afford to participate in it.
In Oklahoma, some state lawmakers introduced bills to raise the minimum wage year after year—only to see those proposals die without a hearing or a vote. In 2014, the legislature went even further, passing a law that prevented cities and towns from raising local wages, even if local voters and community leaders supported the change.
That meant Oklahomans who wanted to see workers earn a fair wage were left with one remaining option: taking the issue directly to the people.
Again and again, voters in red, blue, and purple states alike have passed measures to raise their minimum wages. In the last decade or so, voters have approved minimum-wage increases in about a dozen states, including Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Washington, plus DC.
In early 2024, Oklahomans turned to the state’s initiative petition process as well. Over 150,00 voters signed a petition to place State Question 832 on the ballot. If approved, SQ 832 will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over several years and then index future increases to the Consumer Price Index after 2030.
Yet even as Oklahomans moved toward a vote, politics intervened. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt delayed the election for SQ 832 nearly two years. The wait is about to come to an end on June 16—when voters will finally get their say.
In the meantime, the delay and political games have forced working families in Oklahoma to wait as costs continue to rise. While wages for our lowest-wage workers have been frozen for 17 years, housing, groceries, and utility bills have all become more expensive.
Today, a minimum-wage earner in Oklahoma would need to work about 93 hours a week—more than two full-time jobs—just to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.
No one should have to work that much simply to survive. That fact is proof that the current economy is failing many of the people who keep our communities running.
Workers most affected by legislative inaction are the very people we rely on every day: home health aides caring for seniors, childcare workers helping parents stay employed, restaurant staff serving meals, retail workers keeping stores open, and hotel staff assisting travelers. Many of these essential workers still struggle to afford basic necessities.
Our working families have spent years shouldering the cost of federal and state inaction. They are paying the costs through financial stress, unstable housing, delayed healthcare, and less time with their families because they are constantly working to stay afloat.
Many other states have already raised the minimum wage above the federal level, recognizing a simple truth: An economy works best when working people can afford to participate in it.
SQ 832 gives Oklahoma voters the chance to move the state forward after years of legislative inaction. On June 16, Oklahoma voters can take an important step themselves.
But this issue should not rest solely on state ballot measures. Workers nationwide deserve wages that keep pace with the real cost of living—a goal that ultimately requires action from Congress, too.
Because hard work should mean stability, not poverty.
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University of Oklahoma Removes Teacher Over Failing Grade for Student's Bible-Based Gender Essay
"So if a geology student at the University of Oklahoma says in class the earth is 6,000 years young because that’s what they believe, a geology teacher can’t say squat?" asked one critic.
Dec 23, 2025
A decision from the University of Oklahoma on Monday left some asking whether the research university can still be seen as having "academic standards" after an instructor was removed from teaching duties for giving a failing grade to a student who focused on her own religious beliefs about gender in a paper for a psychology course.
The university released a statement saying the graduate teaching assistant in the course, Mel Curth, had been "arbitrary" in the grading of a paper by student Samantha Fulnecky, who wrote an assigned essay about an article the class read about gender, peer relations, sterotyping, and mental health for the course.
Fulnecky's paper cited the Bible and focused heavily on her beliefs that "God made male and female and made us differently from each other on purpose and for a purpose."
"Women naturally want to do womanly things because God created us with those womanly desires in our hearts. The same goes for men," she wrote in the essay, adding that "society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth."
Curth, who is transgender, gave Fulnecky a zero for the essay and emphasized in her response that she was "not deducting points because you have certain beliefs," but because the paper "does not answer the questions for the assignment, contradicts itself, heavily uses personal ideology over empirical evidence in a scientific class, and is at times offensive."
"Using your own personal beliefs to argue against the findings of not only this article, but the findings of countless articles across psychology, biology, sociology, etc. is not best practice," Curth wrote.
Another instructor concurred with Curth on the grade, telling Fulnecky that "everyone has different ways in which they see the world, but in an academic course such as this you are being asked to support your ideas with empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning."
On Monday, the university suggested Curth's explanation for the grade was not satisfactory.
"What is there to say other than that the University of Oklahoma has no academic standards?" asked journalist Peter Sterne in response to the university's statement.
One civil rights advocate, Brian Tashman, added that the school's decision opens up numerous questions about how academic papers that focus on a student's religious beliefs will be graded in the future.
"So if a geology student at the University of Oklahoma says in class the earth is 6,000 years young because that’s what they believe, a geology teacher can’t say squat?" asked Tashman. "What if their religion teaches the earth is flat? Or that all of mankind’s problems can be traced back to Xenu?"
Curth had initially been placed on administrative leave earlier this month when Fulnecky filed a religious discrimination complaint with the school.
Fulnecky's allegations drew the attention of the school's chapter of Turning Point USA, the right-wing group that advocates for conservative political views on college and high school campuses. The group is closely aligned with the Trump administration. Vice President JD Vance spoke at Turning Point's AmericaFest last weekend—and used the appearance to tell young conservatives that their movement should not root out antisemitism with "purity tests"—and the assassination of its founder, Charlie Kirk, earlier this year, was followed by the White House's efforts to crack down on what it called left-wing extremism, with President Donald Trump directly blaming the "radical left" for Kirk's killing before a suspect was identified.
While Fulnecky garnered support from the Turning Point chapter, hundreds of her fellow students rallied in support of Curth in recent weeks, chanting, "Protect Our Professors!" at a recent protest.
A lawyer for Curth said Monday that she is "considering all of her legal remedies, including appealing this decision by the university."
“Ms. Curth continues to deny that she engaged in any arbitrary behavior regarding the student’s work," Brittany M. Stewart told the Washington Post.
The university did not release its findings of the religious discrimination investigation it opened into Fulnecky's case.
The school's decision to remove Curth from teaching duties, said author Hemant Mehta, "is what academic cowardice looks like."
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Facing Death Penalty, Tremane Wood Granted Surprise Last-Minute Reprieve
"I'm so, so grateful for everyone who fought so hard and diligently to save my son," said his mother. "For the first time in months, I'm able to breathe."
Nov 13, 2025
Tremane Wood's family members and death penalty opponents welcomed Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt's decision to grant clemency on Thursday morning, just minutes before the 46-year-old was set to be executed by lethal injection for a murder his late brother admitted to committing.
"After a thorough review of the facts and prayerful consideration, I have chosen to accept the Pardon and Parole Board's recommendation to commute Tremane Wood’s sentence to life without parole," the Republican governor said in a statement. "This action reflects the same punishment his brother received for their murder of an innocent young man and ensures a severe punishment that keeps a violent offender off the streets forever."
"In Oklahoma, we will continue to hold accountable those who commit violent crimes, delivering justice, safeguarding our communities, and respecting the rule of law," he continued.
Wood has spent over two decades on death row since the 2002 botched robbery in Oklahoma City that ended Ronnie Wipf's life. Both the victim's mother and survivor Arnold Kleinsasser opposed Wood's execution.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, at Wood's clemency hearing, his attorney, Amanda Bass Castro Alves, said that "the compassion and the mercy that the victims in this case have extended to Tremane, rooted in their life-affirming Christian values and in their recognition that we have all fallen short, is nothing short of transformative."
"Mrs. Wipf and Arnold are showing Tremane—and in fact, are showing all of us—that even when irreparable harm has been inflicted, there is a path forward beyond vengeance, a path forward that is instead paved by forgiveness, by compassion and by mercy," the lawyer added.
Stitt—who had faced mounting pressure to spare Wood—said Thursday that "I pray for the family of Ronnie Wipf and for the surviving victim, Arnie; they are models of Christian forgiveness and love."
The governor's decision came after the US Supreme Court declined to halt Wood's execution. Since taking office, Stitt has granted clemency in a death penalty case only one other time: In 2021, he reduced Julius Jones' sentence to life without parole amid concerns that he may be innocent.
The Julius Jones Institute celebrated Stitt's move in a social media post with allied groups, writing that "God moved, and Tremane will not be executed. His sentence has been changed to life without parole! Thank you to everyone who stood with him every call, every email, every share, every prayer. You showed up, and it mattered."
"Our heart is with Tremane and his family as they finally exhale after these heavy weeks. My heart is also with Ronnie Wipf’s mother, who showed courage and compassion in believing Tremane should live," the post continues. "This is a moment filled with relief, gratitude, and deep emotion. And as we hold space for Tremane’s family, we also continue standing in faith for Julius."
The Julius Jones Institute still intends to hold a prayer vigil at 6:00 pm local time on Thursday at OKE City Community Church.
"I'm so, so grateful for everyone who fought so hard and diligently to save my son," Wood’s mother, Linda Wood, told HuffPost. "For the first time in months, I'm able to breathe."
Death Penalty Action said that "Gov. Stitt waited until the very last moment—absolutely torturous for all involved—but we are grateful for this decision. Tremane LIVES. Sending our love to all involved and those who know and love him."
Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform thanked the Pardon and Parole Board for "its rigorous review and moral clarity in recommending clemency," as well as the governor. The group's executive director, Mike Shelton, said that Stitt "took the time to carefully consider the troubling questions surrounding this case."
"Today, Oklahoma got it right, not just because of a single decision, but because thousands of community members made their voices heard," Shelton added. "Their collective courage and engagement were instrumental in bringing attention to the need for justice."
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Oklahoma Threatens Public Schools' Accreditation Unless They Set Up Turning Point USA Chapters
State school superintendent Ryan Walters said public high schools across the state must partner with late activist Charlie Kirk's organization to counter "woke indoctrination."
Sep 25, 2025
Public high schools in Oklahoma are being ordered to partner with Turning Point USA, the right-wing group founded by activist Charlie Kirk—and threatened with being stripped of their accreditation if they don't comply.
Ryan Walters, the state's superintendent of public instruction, released a video address on Tuesday saying that "every Oklahoma high school will have a Turning Point USA chapter."
"For far too long we have seen radical leftists with the teachers unions dominate classrooms and push woke indoctrination on our kids," Walters said in the video posted to social media.
The state-mandated chapters of "Club America," Turning Point's high school program, will ensure students "understand American greatness" while enabling them to "engage in civic dialogue and have that open discussion," said Walters, who also announced on Thursday that he would resign to join the nonprofit anti-union group Teacher Freedom Alliance.
Turning Point has claimed that since Kirk was fatally shot earlier this month at a debate event the group was holding at Utah Valley University, it has received a “massive surge of inquiries to start new chapters” of Club America—but Walters has evidently seen fit to threaten schools if they don't partner with the organization despite the reports of organic interest.
He told reporter Paige Taylor of KOKH FOX 25, "We would go after their accreditation, we would go after their certificates, they would be in danger of not being a school district if they decided to reject a club that is here to promote civil engagement."
Since Kirk's killing, Walters has focused intently on rooting out teachers and school administrators who have not displayed mourning for the activist. On September 17, his office said it had received hundreds of reports of schools and educators displaying "vile rhetoric promoting the killing."
The press release listed 224 reports of "defamatory comments" as well as 30 reports of schools "not observing a moment of silence" and three of schools refusing to fly their flag at half staff.
Kirk mobilized young conservatives and engaged in debates on college campuses regarding abortion rights, immigration, and other political issues. At events and on his podcast, he promoted the white supremacist view that a "great replacement strategy" was underway via immigration policy and claimed "prowling Blacks" target white people with violence in cities.
Walters has spent much of his time as state superintendent pushing for Oklahoma's public schools to include Christian and right-wing beliefs in their teachings—calling on schools to display a video of him praying, procuring President Donald Trump-branded bibles after mandating biblical lessons, screening teachers for liberal viewpoints, and pushing for high school social studies teachers to include debunked conspiracy theories about "election fraud" in the 2020 election in their lesson plans.
After Walters announced his plan to mandate the establishment of Turning Point USA chapters at high schools, a number of observers noted that the superintendent has presided over a school system that is ranked 50th nationwide in terms of education quality.
"And now all high schools will have political propaganda clubs," said progressive organizer Melanie D'Arrigo, "while banning books like To Kill a Mockingbird because it's 'indoctrination.'"
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Ryan Walters announced his resignation.
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Oklahoma Screening Teachers From California, New York for 'Radical Leftist Ideology'
"This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage," said American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten.
Aug 20, 2025
Teachers from California and New York seeking work in Oklahoma will be required to pass an "America First Test" designed to weed out applicants espousing "radical leftist ideology," the state's public schools chief affirmed Monday.
Oklahoma—which has a severe teacher shortage, persistently high turnover, and some of the nation's worst educational outcomes—will compel prospective public school educators from the nation's two largest "blue" states to submit to the exam in a bid to combat what Superintendent for Public Instruction Ryan Walters calls "woke indoctrination."
"As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York," Walters said in a statement Monday.
Walters told USA Today that the test is necessary to vet teachers from states where educators "are teaching things that are antithetical to our standards" and ensure they "are not coming into our classrooms and indoctrinating kids."
However, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten warned in a statement Monday that "this MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage."
The exam will be administered by Prager University—also known as PragerU—a right-wing nonprofit group which, despite its name, is not an academic institution and does not confer degrees.
While all of the test's 50 questions have not been made public, the ones that have been published run the gamut from insultingly basic—such as, "What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?"—to ideologically fraught queries regarding the "biological differences between females and males."
PragerU's "educational" materials are rife with false or misleading information regarding slavery, racism, immigration, the history of fascism, and the climate emergency. Critics note that the nonprofit has received millions of dollars in funding from fossil fuel billionaires.
PragerU materials also promote creation mythology over scientific evolution and attack LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender individuals, calling lifesaving gender-affirming healthcare "barbaric" while likening its proponents to "monsters."
In one animated PragerU video, two children travel back in time to ask the genocidal explorer Christopher Columbus why he is so hated today. Columbus replies by asserting the superiority of Europeans over Indigenous "cannibals" and attempting to justify the enslavement of Native Americans by arguing that "being taken as a slave is better than being killed."
Closer to home, PragerU's curriculum aligns with so-called "white discomfort" legislation passed in Oklahoma and other Republican-controlled states that critics say prevents honest lessons on slavery, the Jim Crow and civil rights eras, and enduring systemic racism.
The law has had a chilling effect on teachers' lessons on historical topics including the 1921 Tulsa massacre, in which a white supremacist mob backed armed by city officials destroyed more than 35 city blocks of Greenwood, the "Black Wall Street," murdering hundreds of Black men, women, and children in what the US Justice Department this year called a "coordinated, military-style attack."
Responding to Oklahoma's new policy, University of Pennsylvania history professor Jonathan Zimmerman told The Associated Press that "instead of Prager simply being a resource that you can draw in an optional way, Prager has become institutionalized as part of the state system."
"There's no other way to describe it," he said, adding, "I think what we're now seeing in Oklahoma is something different, which is actually empowering Prager as a kind of gatekeeper for future teachers."
Oklahoma is not the only state incorporating PragerU materials into its curriculum. Florida, Montana, New Hampshire, and Texas have also done so to varying degrees.
Weingarten noted Walters' previous push to revise Oklahoma's curriculum standards to include baseless conspiracy theories pushed by President Donald Trump that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election. Walters also ordered all public schools to teach the Bible, a directive temporarily blocked by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in March. The court also recently ruled against the establishment of the nation's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school.
"His priority should be educating students, but instead, it's getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him," Weingrarten said in her statement.
Cari Elledge, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, called the new testing requirement "a political stunt to grab attention" and a distraction "from real issues in Oklahoma."
"When political ideology plays into whether or not you can teach in any place, that might be a deterrent to quality educators attempting to get a job," she added. "We think it's intentional to make educators fearful and confused."
California Teachers' Association president David Goldberg told USA Today that "this almost seems like satire and so far removed from my research around what Oklahoma educators need and deserve."
"I can't see how this isn't some kind of hyper-political grandstanding that doesn't serve any of those needs," he added.
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Senate GOP Adds $1 Billion Tax 'Giveaway' for Big Oil to Budget Bill
That provision was secured by Senator James Lankford, who has received more than $546,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry since 2019.
Jun 20, 2025
Senate Republicans have added a provision to their draft of the budget reconciliation package that would exempt domestic oil and gas companies from paying corporate taxes, saving them more than $1 billion over the next decade.
On Wednesday, David Dayen reported in The American Prospect that the Senate Finance Committee's version of the bill, released Monday, "shields domestic onshore oil and gas drillers from the Inflation Reduction Act's corporate alternative minimum tax," or CAMT.
That provision was secured by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), and the benefits would largely flow to companies based in his home state.
As Dayen wrote, the CAMT is "a fairly clean tax provision as these things go." It currently requires companies that bring in more than $1 billion to pay 15% of the profits they report to shareholders.
However, the Senate Republican draft would modify that calculation to account for "intangible drilling and development costs," which would allow companies to declare lower profits and put many of them below the threshold required to pay the 15% tax.
According to Bloomberg, companies including ConocoPhillips, Ovintiv, and Civitas Resources lobbied in favor of the bill. Lankford, meanwhile, received more than $546,000 in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry—his top source of industry donations—between 2019 and 2024 according to OpenSecrets.
Big Oil will be rewarded handsomely for its efforts. The provision in the Senate GOP bill is virtually identical to another bill proposed by Lankford, which the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found would hand $1.1 billion in government revenue to the fossil fuel industry over the next 10 years.
"This disastrous piece of legislation includes giveaway after giveaway for the fossil fuel industry, while cutting crucial clean energy programs that help consumers save money on their electric bills," said Alan Zibel, an oil and gas researcher with the consumer rights group Public Citizen.
In addition to this tax loophole, the Senate GOP's bill includes billions of dollars in upfront subsidies to Big Oil and cuts royalties paid by oil and gas companies for drilling on public lands. At the same time, the bill guts subsidies for wind and solar energy, including a tax credit that saved money for consumers who made their homes more energy efficient.
Through its combination of tax breaks and cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps, the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" constitutes a massive transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office last week, it would result in the richest 10% of households bringing in an extra $12,000 a year while the poorest 10% would lose nearly $1,600.
"You have got to be kidding me," tweeted the account for Americans for Tax Fairness in response to the Senate GOP's draft. "Not only does the bill gut Medicaid and SNAP to fund tax breaks for billionaires. Now it gives Big Oil MORE money while they price-gouge us."
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Split Supreme Court Won't Allow First Religious Public Charter School in US
Although another case could soon come before the high court, the ACLU still welcomed that, for now, "public schools must remain secular and welcome all students, regardless of faith."
May 22, 2025
Public education and First Amendment advocates on Thursday celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to allow the nation's first religious public charter school in Oklahoma—even though the outcome of this case doesn't rule out the possibility of another attempt to establish such an institution.
"Requiring states to allow religious public schools would dismantle religious freedom and public education as we know it," Cecillia Wang, national legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement about the 4-4 decison. "Today, a core American constitutional value remains in place: Public schools must remain secular and welcome all students, regardless of faith."
Wang's group and other partners had filed a lawsuit over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School on behalf of parents, faith leaders, and public school advocates. Her colleague Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, declared Thursday that "the very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron."
The new one-page opinion states that "the judgment is affirmed by an equally divided court," which means the Oklahoma Supreme Court's June 2024 ruling against St. Isidore remains in place. There are nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court, but Justice Amy Coney Barrett—who is part of its right-wing supermajority—recused herself from this case.
"While Justice Barrett did not provide an explanation for her recusal, it may be because she is close friends with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who was an early adviser for St. Isidore," The New York Times noted. "Although justices sometimes provide reasons when they recuse themselves, they are not required to do so."
Law Dork's Chris Geidner warned that "a new challenge not requiring her recusal could easily return to the court in short order—especially now that the court has shown its interest in taking on the issue."
In this case, as Common Dreams reported during oral arguments last month, Chief Justice John Roberts appeared to be the deciding vote. Geidner pointed out Thursday that while it seems most likely that he sided with the three liberals, "even that could have been as much of a vote to put off a decision as a substantive ruling on the matter."
Some groups happy with the outcome in this case also highlighted that the battle is expected to continue.
"This is a crucial, if narrow, win for constitutional principles," Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said in a statement. "A publicly funded religious charter school would have obliterated the wall of separation between state and church. We're relieved that, at least for now, the First Amendment still means what it says."
"The fight isn't over," Gaylor added. "The forces trying to undermine our public schools and constitutional freedoms are already regrouping. FFRF will continue to defend secular education and the rights of all Americans to be free from government-imposed religion."
Leading teachers unions also weighed in with both an amicus brief submitted to the high court and Thursday statements.
"Educators and parents know that student success depends on more resources in our public schools, not less. Yet for too long, we have seen anti-public education forces attempt to deprive public school students of necessary funding and support," National Education Association president Becky Pringle said Thursday. "We are gratified that the Supreme Court did not take the radical step of upending public education by requiring states to have religious charter schools."
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten also welcomed that the high court on Thursday let stand the Oklahoma decision, "which correctly upheld the separation of church and state and backed the founders' intention to place religious pluralism over sectarianism."
"We are grateful that it upheld the state's highest court's clear and unambiguous ruling to preserve and nurture the roots of our democracy, not tear up its very foundations," Weingarten said in a statement. "We respect and honor religious education. It should be separate from public schooling."
"Public schools, including public charter schools, are funded by taxpayer dollars because they are dedicated to helping all—not just some—children have a shot at success," she stressed. "They are the bedrock of our democracy, and states have long worked to ensure that they remain secular, open, and accessible to all."
This article has been updated with comment from the National Education Association.
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US Supreme Court Could OK Religious Public Charter School in Oklahoma
"Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund religious charter schools would put both public education and religious freedom at risk," warned one teachers union leader.
Apr 30, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments over what could become the country's first taxpayer-funded religious charter school—and opponents of the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School renewed their warnings about the proposal.
Faith leaders, parents, and educators celebrated last June, when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against establishing St. Isidore. The test case for all such schools has now advanced to the country's highest court, which has a right-wing supermajority.
Reporting on over two hours of arguments Wednesday, Law Dork's Chris Geidner wrote that "the religious supremacy movement from the right's majority on the U.S. Supreme Court—with its outside helpers—appeared likely to... OK the first religious charter school in the country."
"Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh appeared eager to do so, and Justice Neil Gorsuch's past writing in a related case signaled his alignment with the move, at least in principle," Geidner detailed. "Chief Justice John Roberts—the key vote then since Justice Amy Coney Barrett has recused herself from the case—appeared to be open to the idea as well."
Other legal reporters also concluded that Roberts appears to be the "key vote," given that the three liberals—Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor—all "expressed significant reservations" about allowing a religious charter school.
It appears very likely that the Supreme Court will force Oklahoma to approve and fund a Catholic charter school that reserves the right to indoctrinate students in Catholicism, force them to attend mass, and discriminate against non-Catholics. The three liberals sound increasingly exasperated.
— Mark Joseph Stern ( @mjsdc.bsky.social) April 30, 2025 at 11:52 AM
According to The Associated Press:
If Roberts sides with the liberals, the court would be tied 4-4, an outcome that would leave the state court decision in place, but would leave the issue unresolved nationally.
If he joins his conservative colleagues, on the other hand, the court could find that the taxpayer-funded school is in line with a string of high court decisions that have allowed public funds to flow to religious entities. Those rulings were based on a different part of the First Amendment that protects religious freedom.
Roberts wrote the last three of those decisions. He acknowledged at one point that the court had previously ruled that states "couldn't exclude religious participants," suggesting support for St. Isidore.
But he also said the state's involvement in this case is "much more comprehensive" than in the earlier ones, a point that could lead him in the other direction.
American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said in a statement after the arguments that "we respect religious education and the Founders' intention in separating church and state."
"Public schools, including public charter schools, are funded by taxpayer dollars because they are dedicated to helping all—not just some—children have a shot at success," the union leader said. "They are the bedrock of our democracy, and states have long worked to ensure that they remain secular, open, and accessible to all. They are not, and never have been, Sunday schools."
"The petitioners are seeking to change that," Weingarten warned. "Religious schools should be able to operate in the U.S., but they are not public schools, and they shouldn't be able to get the benefits and the funding yet ignore the obligations and responsibilities."
"Our hope is that the justices will uphold the Supreme Court of Oklahoma's decision, correctly siding with religious pluralism over sectarianism," she concluded. "A reversal would be a devastating blow to public education and the 90% of young people who rely on it. We must preserve and nurture the roots of our democracy, not tear up its very foundations."
The country's other leading teachers union also opposes the establishment of the Oklahoma school. National Education Association president Becky Pringle said in a statement this week that "every student—no matter where they live, what they look like, or their religion—deserves access to a fully funded neighborhood public school that gives them a sense of belonging and prepares them with the lessons and life skills they need."
"Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund religious charter schools would put both public education and religious freedom at risk," Pringle asserted, "opening the door to more privatization that undermines our public education system."
Proud to join @faithfulamerica.bsky.social outside of SCOTUS ahead of oral arguments in the OK religious charter school case, which challenges whether public funds can be used to support religious charter schools. As religious Americans, we say the separation of church and state is good for both!
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— Interfaith Alliance (@interfaithalliance.org) April 30, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Chris Yarrell, an attorney at the Center for Law and Education, similarly warned in a Common Dreams opinion piece earlier this month that "if the court sides with St. Isidore, the ripple effects could be seismic, triggering a wave of religious charter school applications and fundamentally altering the landscape of public education."
In addition to fighting for a taxpayer-funded religious school, Christian nationalists in Oklahoma want to put Bibles in public school classrooms—an effort the state Supreme Court has temporarily impeded.
The court last month blocked Oklahoma's superintendent of public instruction, Ryan Walters, and education department from spending taxpayer dollars on Bibles and Bible-infused instructional materials.
“This victory is an important step toward protecting the religious freedom of every student and parent in Oklahoma," legal groups supporting plaintiffs who challenged the policy
said at the time. "Walters has been abusing his power, and the court checked those abuses today. Our diverse coalition of families and clergy remains united against Walters' extremism and in favor of a core First Amendment principle: the separation of church and state."
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Former Sen. Fred Harris, Champion of Economic Populism, Dies at 94
"The fundamental problem is that too few people have all the money and power, and everybody else has too little of either," said Harris in 1975.
Nov 25, 2024
Former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris, a moderate Democratic lawmaker who fully embraced economic populism in his later political career and ran what one journalist called a "proto-Bernie" presidential campaign in 1976, died on Saturday at the age of 94.
Harris' death inspired tributes from an array of Democratic politicians and progressives, who remembered the former senator's outspoken support for working people and his championing of Indigenous rights.
Harris was voted into the Senate to replace Sen. Robert Kerr (D-Okla.) in 1964 after Kerr died of a heart attack. He began as a close ally of President Lyndon Johnson, supporting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and Johnson's Great Society programs aimed at reducing poverty.
But he "underwent a dramatic passage from moderate-conservative to liberal ideas," as The New York Times reported, embracing a "new populism" that was centered on promoting racial equality and a redistribution of economic and political power and fighting against the exploitation of workers. He also gradually changed his stance on Vietnam, calling for troop reductions and eventually a full withdrawal of the U.S. military in the region.
In 1967 he was a member of the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders, convened to determine the root cause of riots in Black communities across the country. He concluded that "entrenched racism" was to blame.
He was also credited with sponsoring a bill that pushed President Richard Nixon to return Blue Lake, a site that was sacred to the people of the Taos Pueblo tribe, to them.
"In Senator Harris, Oklahoma sent a public servant to Washington, D.C. who gave voice to those in need, lifted up those the economy left behind, was a champion of civil rights, and was a friend to Indian Country," said Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. of the Cherokee Nation.
"His story is one that too few people know—the story of an Oklahoman who championed working families and fought for justice and equity at every turn."
Running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, Harris called for higher taxes on the richest Americans and lower taxes for the rest of the country, stricter regulations on large corporations, a "moral" foreign policy, abortion rights, and "community control" of police forces.
Columnist John Nichols of The Nation said Harris adopted the slogan "No More Bullshit" during his presidential campaign.
Harris' presidential bid, said journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News, "was a road-not-taken that would have led to a much better world than we have now."
Harris told the Times in 1975 that the issue he was most concerned with was "privilege."
"The fundamental problem is that too few people have all the money and power, and everybody else has too little of either," he said. "The widespread diffusion of economic and political power ought to be the express goal—the stated goal—of government."
Harris' campaign garnered enthusiastic support from many voters, with the former senator taking aim at "the superrich, giant corporations" and leading efforts to gain the confidence of blue-collar workers, farmers, poor Black and white voters, and unemployed people.
"Those in the coalition don't have to love one another," Harris said. "All they have to do is recognize that they are commonly exploited, and that if they get themselves together they are a popular majority and can take back the government."
After his presidential run, Harris became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and left politics to raise chickens on a farm in Corrales, New Mexico.
In conversations with Axios reporter Russell Contreras in his later years, Harris expressed frustration with the Democratic Party, saying leaders didn't discuss poverty as much as they should.
"It's harder to get out of poverty today than it was back then," he told Contreras.
He added that showing a commitment to fight for working-class and low-income people would motivate people in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and on Native American reservations across the country.
"We are grateful to see national media highlighting the life and legacy of former Senator Fred Harris," said the Oklahoma Democratic Party. "His story is one that too few people know—the story of an Oklahoman who championed working families and fought for justice and equity at every turn."
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Holy Grift! Trump Bibles Miraculously an Exact Match for Oklahoma Public Schools Mandate
"Ryan Walters' multimillion-dollar school Bible scheme appears to be a grift to funnel taxpayer dollars to Donald Trump and his allies."
Oct 04, 2024
Journalists in Oklahoma revealed Friday that the Christian Bibles peddled by former President Donald Trump are potentially the only ones on the market that meet the specific list of requirements for volumes the state controversially plans to purchase for its public schools.
The Oklahoma Watch reporting sparked a fresh wave of criticism on several fronts, including the Republican presidential nominee's ongoing Bible grift; Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters' attempt to spend millions in taxpayer dollars on religious books for public classrooms; and broader efforts by Christian nationalist forces to assert themselves within the modern GOP.
As Oklahoma Watch detailed:
Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.
A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.
But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.
Mardel doesn't carry the God Bless the USA Bible or another Bible that could meet the specifications, the We The People Bible, which was also endorsed by Trump. It sells for $90.
The outlet also noted Walters' support for Trump. The official reportedly said earlier this week: "We are going to be so proud here in Oklahoma to be the first state in the country to bring the Bible back to every single classroom and every state should be doing this... President Trump praised our efforts. President Trump has been the leader on this issue."
In response to the reporting, The Atlantic's David Graham simply said, "Incredible grift."
Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall declared that "this is somewhere being hilarious and grotesque."
Activist Olivia Julianna asserted that "this cannot be legal."
Julianna may be correct. Former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, a Democrat, told Oklahoma Watch that "if the bid specs exclude most bidders unnecessarily, I could consider that a violation."
The reporting provoked praise for Oklahoma Watch's Paul Monies, Jennifer Palmer, and Heather Warlick. Arms Control Today chief editor Carol Giacomo said, "Local journalism, uncovering the facts—and the grift."
Even before the Trump Bible development, civil rights groups have spent months sounding the alarm over Walters' push to mandate Christian teachings in public schools.
On Thursday, a coalition including the ACLU and Americans United requested "records related to Walters' announced funding for the mandate, made at a September 26 meeting where the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a $3 million budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year 'to provide Bibles to the Oklahoma classrooms.'"
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, said in a Thursday statement that "Oklahoma taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll Superintendent Walters' Christian nationalist agenda."
"His latest scheme—to mandate use of the Bible in Oklahoma public school curriculum—is a transparent, unlawful effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students," Laser added. "Not on our watch. Public schools are not Sunday schools."
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