Senate bill would provide resources to combat child abuse

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- The state Senate this week approved legislation that would strengthen the ability of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) Child Abuse Response Team (CART) to combat child abuse.

Senate Bill 1002 would provide a funding mechanism for CART, and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. ICAC agents investigate technology-driven crimes against children including child pornography, child abuse and human trafficking.

Sen. Dan Newberry, author of the proposal, said the bill would provide law enforcement with the resources to protect children and prosecute some of the state’s worst offenders.

“As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety of our most vulnerable citizens, and guarantee that crimes against them are prosecuted efficiently,” said Newberry, R-Tulsa. “To do so, we must give law enforcement the resources and preventative tools they need. Crimes like this permanently impact the lives of far too many people. This bill will strengthen our ability to combat child abuse in Oklahoma.”

Newberry said he was motivated to file the proposal after learning about the shocking amount of uploading of child pornography being detected by the ICAC Task Force. ICAC agents report that as many as 1500 such crimes occur daily.

Newberry’s legislation states that any person convicted of a crime punishable by a fine of $25 or more, or by incarceration, will be ordered to pay a $10 fee. Funds collected through the fee would then be distributed to the Internet Crimes Against Children Prosecution Revolving Fund and the OSBI Revolving Fund for use by CART and the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit.

Approved by a vote of 46-0, the measure now advances to the House for consideration.

“I’m proud that my colleagues unanimously stood in support of this bill,” said Newberry. “This law would allow Oklahoma parents to rest easier, and make a difference in the lives of children who need help.”

Information, Applications Posted on Newest School Choice Law

Oklahoma Equal Education Opportunity Scholarship Act Begins Work

OKLAHOMA CITY (September 8, 2011) -- The Oklahoma Tax Commission has posted applications on its website for both educational improvement grant organizations and scholarship-granting organizations in response to Senate Bill 969, a tuition tax credit program, which took effect August 26. 

Supt. Janet Barresi

“I’m glad this important reform has taken effect,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Janet Barresi said. “This bill allows Oklahoma parents the opportunity to make the best choice for their children’s education. It gives much-needed support to low-income families and helps bring innovative programs to our schools.”

SB 969, by State Sen. Dan Newberry, R-Tulsa, and State Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, is a key plank in Superintendent Barresi’s 3R Agenda to rethink, restructure and reform Oklahoma’s education system.

The bill offers a 50 percent state income tax credit to businesses and individuals making contributions to scholarship-granting organizations. Those organizations, in turn, provide tuition scholarships to families earning less than 300 percent of the requirement for the federal free and reduced lunch program or whose children attend a school identified as needing improvement under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Funds generated from the tax credits also could be used to finance grants for innovative education programs in rural public schools across the state.

Contribution limits are up to $1,000 per person, $2,000 per couple or up to $100,000 per business entity. Up to $5 million in tax credits can be raised each year, half from individual tax filers and half from corporate tax filers. Any credits earned during the time period beginning August 26, 2011, through December 31, 2012, may not be claimed until tax year 2013.

Scholarship and grant organizations will be established as nonprofits, contributing at least ninety percent of annual receipts to eligible recipients and reporting annually to the Tax Commission. 

Sen. Dan Newberry
R-Tulsa

“In order to give every student a chance to learn, we must empower students and families with freedom of choice,” said Newberry in May after the Senate passed the final version of SB 969. “This legislation will encourage private sector investment in the success of our low-income children, removing barriers to achievement and helping children build better lives. Expanding choice will create a more fertile climate for learning, improving our education system.”

Newberry noted the measure would increase the overall amount spent on primary education while saving the state tax dollars.

Rep. Lee Denney
R-Cushing

“This legislation provides an opportunity for Oklahomans to help poor children obtain a quality education,” said state Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing. “It provides a much-needed new source of education funding to benefit the students who are most at-risk.”

Organizations interested in applying can go to http://www.tax.ok.gov/btforms.html.

Legislature Sends Major School Choice Bill To Governor

The state Senate voted this week to increase educational opportunity for needy children through a new scholarship tax credit program.

Senate Bill 969, by state Sen. Dan Newberry and state Rep. Lee Denney, would create the “Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act.”

Under the provisions of SB 969, students meeting financial need requirements or living in school districts identified for improvement under No Child Left Behind will be eligible for scholarships.

“In order to give every student a chance to learn, we must empower students and families with freedom of choice,” said Newberry, R-Tulsa. “This legislation will encourage private sector investment in the success of our low-income children, removing barriers to achievement and helping children build better lives. Expanding choice will create a more fertile climate for learning, improving our education system.”

The bill would allow a tax credit equal to 50 percent of the amount contributed to a scholarship-granting organization up to $1,000 per person, $2,000 per couple or up to $100,000 per business entity.

The total credit authorized could not exceed $1.75 million annually.  

“This legislation provides an opportunity for Oklahomans to help poor children obtain a quality education,” said state Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing. “It provides a much-needed new source of education funding to benefit the students who are most at-risk.”

Scholarships funded through the tax credit program would serve children from low-income families and allow them to attend private schools. The privately funded scholarships would pay up to $5,000 or 80 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in the school district where the recipient student resides. Scholarships for special needs students under the bill would cover up to $25,000.

Bipartisan hopes: Hamilton, Denney make the case for opportunity scholarships

by Patrick B. McGuigan, CapitolBeatOK.com

Senate Bill 969, creating an opportunity scholarship program funded by tax credits, passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives last week. State Rep. Rebecca Hamilton of south Oklahoma City, a Democrat, was one of the half dozen legislators who rose to speak in favor of the legislation. 

Republican Lee Denny of Cushing, House author of the measure, closed debate in favor of the measure.

While passage of the bill represents a significant development in the history of education policy in Oklahoma, Rep. Hamilton addressed the issue in terms of the practical effect it will, she believes, have on her constituents. While many of them impoverished, they hope for better education and prospects for their children, she said. 

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton
D-Oklahoma City

In Wednesday’s debate, Hamilton told colleagues, “I am speaking today for the children of House District 89. If I went against this bill, I really feel that I would be a complete ingrate, and I would not be doing what’s right for the people who put me up here and who trusted me with their lives when they did it.

“I represent children (and I mean all of the children that I represent) who go to schools that are essentially factories. Those schools not only do not provide them with the kind of education that they need to have a future, but they destroy their souls while they’re at it. The schools are dangerous. The schools are dehumanizing. You don’t do this to human beings, and yet we do this to human beings. If this bill will help any of those children at all, then I have to vote for it, and I have to speak for it.

“I wish there was a way that we could help them all, and I know that this won’t help them all. But I cannot turn my back on the ones that it will help.

“I have to tell you that since 1980, when I was first elected …, I have introduced many bills to try to do something about the inner city schools, and they were killed every single time. The arguments that were used to kill them were essentially the same arguments that are being used against this bill today.

“I wish that we had a public education system that provided the kind of educational experience for every child in Oklahoma where they had a hope and a future. But it does not, and we do not.

“The number one thing lacking in my district among my children is hope. You take hope away from people, and you destroy them. You take hope away from people, and these are not chimps, these are people, with all the drive and intelligence that is inherent in every human being, and you get something that is dangerous, and destructive, and that ends up costing you a lot more money, if money is what this is all about. Hopeless people are dangerous people. That’s what these schools give these children right now: no hope. That’s what this bill does give them: hope.

“If this bill goes into law, one of the first things I’m going to do is use my letters that we get to send out up here to the kids in my district and say ‘this program is available. I want you to apply for it. If you have problems…’ -- and they will with the paperwork –‘I want you to call my office, and I will help you.’

I am going to contact all of my parents, because my parents are scared, they’re scared of any kind of authority, and I’m going to walk them through it, and convince them that they can do this without fear, because I’ll protect them. I have to tell my constituents that a lot, ‘I will protect you. You can call the police because I will protect you. I will call the police for you’ because they’re scared to do it. ‘You can walk through this, because I will help you.’

“I know that is a very alien thing for some of you with districts where you have constituents who don’t even really need representatives because they can fight for themselves. But that’s what I deal with everyday.

“I’m going to vote for this bill. I co-authored this bill, because I owe that to the people who have trusted me in election after election after election for all these years to come out here and take care of their interest in government. I urge all of you to do the same.”

Rep. Lee Denney
R-Cushing

Rep. Denny closed debate on the issue. She thanked colleagues who had supported the bill, then refuted contentions made by House Minority Leader Scott Inman of Del City, assertions that foreshadowed a press release listing opposition arguments that was circulated in the hours after debate concluded. 

Denny said, “I wanted to start out by refuting what the Representative from Del City said. I don’t know where he read in the bill about cherry picking, or that we’re trying to help private schools. This bill is about helping kids. It was designed to help kids, not schools. We do a lot out here to help schools; this is designed to help kids. It’s designed to help parents of those kids that know that their kids are in a failing situation that’s not working for them, and they want a better opportunity. I don’t know a single parent that doesn’t want what’s best for their kids. Up and down, it has no economic boundaries, it has no socioeconomic, no class boundaries. Parents want what’s best for their kids. 

“This bill opens the door of opportunity for kids [who] are in failing schools, kids that have no hope, kids that are trapped in these poor schools, an opportunity to do better. I don’t know one parent that wouldn’t want to take advantage of this. 

Senate passes bill to allow private funds for scholarships to students in need

Today the Oklahoma Senate approved a bill that will give businesses and individuals the opportunity to play a role in providing quality education for Oklahoma children. Known as the “Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act,” Senate Bill 969 by Senator Dan Newberry, R-Sand Springs, passed with bi-partisan support by a vote of 30 to 14.

Sen. Dan Newberry
R-Sand Springs

“We must give every student an opportunity to learn, if their current school is not providing that, this is a way that we can engage the private sector to rescue them and offer a better option,” said Newberry. “This bill provides more opportunity to students that currently do not have access to quality education.”

Under the bill’s provisions, students that meet financial need requirements or that live in school districts identified for improvement under No Child Left Behind will be eligible to receive scholarships. 

Businesses and individual contributions will fund the scholarships and the state will grant tax credits to those that contribute. Individuals will receive a 50% annual credit for contributions up to $1,000, $2,000 for married couples filing jointly, and a 50% credit annually for corporations on contributions up to $100,000. There is a limit placed on total annual contributions, totaling $5 million.

Newberry said that the bill will save tax dollars because local school districts will experience a savings on students that are no longer enrolled in the local public school. Remaining students will benefit from money being made available to educate a reduced number of students. He said that the infusion of private dollars will result in a savings and benefit for all students, from both public and private schools.

“Senate Bill 969 increases the amount of money that we spend on primary education in Oklahoma using private sector dollars. I am encouraged by the broad support this bill received today,” concluded Newberry.