A Lesson Plan to Improve Education
Honor the Promise
- 4th in student funding is not acceptable. I will fight to move per-student funding above 2009 levels, putting more dollars in our kids' classrooms.
- Increase teacher recruitment and retention to better serve a growing student population, including better compensation for teachers and support staff as well as a proper Cost of Living Adjustment for retirees in order to attract and retain professional teachers of the highest quality.
- Overhaul the deeply flawed "A-F" report card for districts in order to truly reflect school services and achievements using meaningful standards.
Healthy Kids, Brighter Futures
- Oklahoma leads the nation in Adverse Childhood Experiences(ACEs). This is unacceptable, and the legislature must act.
- Push for resources to help schools and communities better serve students, including supporting Superintendent Hofmeister's School Counselor Corps proposal to add hundreds of counselors to schools.
Putting Our Communities First
Real Tax Relief
- By making the Earned Income Tax Credit refundable once more, we can put hundreds of dollars each into the pockets of over 2,500 families in House District 68 alone!
- Follow the recommendations of the state's own evaluators and end the state's practice of throwing expensive credits at the wealthiest in exchange for virtually no benefit to the state. Read the state's findings here.
Meaningful Criminal Justice Reform
- The cash bail system wreaks havoc on lives. It needs to end and be replaced with a more humane, just system.
- Continue to support the retroactive commutation of sentences for prisoners serving time for offenses that have been made legal with recent changes to the law.
- Support pay increases for Department of Corrections officers in order to alleviate the crisis in our state corrections system. Presently, prisons are dangerously overcrowded and understaffed, with many workers in dangerous, understaffed situations while working for subsistence wages.
Healthcare Is a Right
- I support Medicaid expansion, and will continue to support it as it goes to a vote of the people.
- Oklahoma's broken healthcare system has produced a poorer, sicker state. I will fight to end practices that victimize Oklahomans struggling and to increase access to basic care.
Fighting Corruption and Working for You
By the People, Not the Lobbyists
- The practice of using "model bills" written by outside lobbyists is no better than downloading homework from the internet. Oklahoma is one of the worst offenders in the nation, the current representative for our district included.
- I will push for legislation to minimize the use of "copy and paste" lawmaking and to require lawmakers to publicly disclose the origin of each bill.
- I will not accept corporate money. I believe in government for the people, not the donors.
Working for the People, Not the Powerful
- I will not accept any funds from sitting members of the legislature, and I will push for a "cooling off" period before former elected officials can accept jobs as lobbyists.
Answering to You
- I pledge to be accountable to House District 68. Our current representative has a poor record of transparency, underutilizing available communications to keep voters informed. I will make YOU my priority, and transparency will be the policy for my tenure.