Oklahoma City University economist Russell Evans will discuss the economic outlook for Oklahoma City. Other agenda items include financial trends, the city’s revenue and expense forecast, departmental issues and the fiscal year 2015 budget outlook. The meeting will take place in rooms 14 and 15.
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Art funding cuts proposed
House Bill 2850 is a measure to cut public funding for the Oklahoma Arts Council on what is phrased an “emergency basis.” The bill lays out a plan to defund the OAC and is cued for consideration when the Oklahoma Legislature convenes Feb. 3. Bill author Rep. Dan Fisher proposes that OAC funding be cut […]
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Ruff stuff
Charley has been helping kids who struggle with their reading skills gain confidence by providing a willing, uncritical audience. Charley is a 7-year-old AKC Certified therapy dog who, along with her person, Jerry Nickell, visits The Village Library to participate in Children Reading to Dogs, a weekly program at several Metropolitan Library System branches. A […]
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Public education is changing
Today, “public education” is coming to mean something different: We want an “educated public” — and it doesn’t matter where that education takes place. Most students still go to the school closest to their house. But did you realize that in Florida, for example, nearly half the students (43 percent) go to a school other […]
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Recovery efforts
With drug use — and addiction recovery — in the spotlight of this year’s mayoral race, experts weigh in on how it might hamper or help overall public health. Public vilification of an Oklahoma City councilman’s past drug use, treatment and recovery is likely to restrict the number of people willing to seek elected office, […]
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Making Meade
These two highly diverse structures were created by the same Oklahoma City fabrication artist, who continues to redefine his skill set with each new assignment. Hugh Meade’s Oddfab Design Lab, 703 W. Sheridan Ave., is housed in a warehouse studio within the growing Film Row district. The business, which is celebrating its first anniversary, specializes […]
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Lunch lady land
Gov. Mary Fallin’s former personal chef is now working for Southeast High School. That’s right. She debuted her special, Happy Trails Stir-Fry over Steamed Brown Rice, to fanfare — and requests for seconds — late last month, reports NewsOK. Robin Obert-Magturo will help decide what 41,000 Oklahoma City Public School children eat, in accordance with […]
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In reform, real focus on needs on students
Oklahoma’s education debate spends a lot of time on a few familiar subjects: education funding vs. tax cuts, vouchers and charters vs. traditional public schools and high-stakes testing vs. letting teachers teach. What’s too often missing from these debates is any consideration of the needs of real students. We’ve lost sight of the reasons kids […]
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School values don’t fit into a single score
Scholars at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, in Oklahoma School Grades: Hiding “Poor” Achievement, anticipated the mess. They concluded, “a primary assumption of the A-F accountability system, that student test scores can be dissected and manipulated into valid indicators of school performance, is simply false.” The bubbling-in of three questions out of […]
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Dotted line
Fallin hasn’t directly opposed the initiative petition drive, but she doesn’t plan to endorse it either, according to her spokesman, Alex Weintz. Instead, the governor has commented that money used for storm shelters will reduce funding for other educational needs. “She’s just trying to inject some form of realism here,” Weintz said. However, storm shelter […]