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Oklahoma measure seeks to make school district superintendents an elected position

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Oklahoma measure seeks to make school district superintendents an elected position

Oklahoma will consider a new measure to make the role of school district superintendent an elected position in response to a spate of controversial situations involving scholastic leaders, Fox News Digital has learned.

There have been allegations and news reports about several issues: the refusal to remove “pornographic books” from school libraries, the dismissal of a teacher for failure to comply with a COVID-19 face mask mandate, and media coverage of “nothing [being] done” in response to reports a school football coach was bragging about sexual conquests with parents.

In 2021, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt called firings of mask-averse teachers “preposterous” and said their talents are needed more than ever.

“This is about a school district not following state law — this isn’t a debate about masks,” he said, after the Oklahoma City district reportedly fired multiple educators, adding the state previously banned such firings.

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF BILLS KAMALA HARRIS $474M FOR EDUCATION COSTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

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In February, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters — who is an elected official himself — threatened to lower the accreditation of Edmond, Oklahoma, schools if it didn’t remove the books “The Glass Castle” and “Kite Runner” from its high school libraries.

Walters called the inaction “subversion of accountability,” though Edmond’s superintendent said the state lacked authority to remove the books based on a 1997 district policy.

In another case, in Edmond, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz from neighboring Texas, among others, blasted videos showing a portion of a school fundraiser wherein students were licking each other’s toes. 

In a public statement, school officials appeared to celebrate the event:

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“This afternoon, Deer Creek High School announced a grand total of $152,830.38 raised for Not Your Average Joe Coffee, an organization created to ‘inspire our community by including students and adults with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities,” school staff wrote. 

“All participants in the assembly were students who signed up for the game(s) they played ahead of time. No Deer Creek faculty or staff participated in any of the games during this Clash of Classes assembly,” a portion of the latter part of the statement read.

LANDMARK BILL TARGETS HIDDEN FOREIGN FUNDING IN SCHOOLS AS OFFICIALS WARN OF CCP INFLUENCE

Walters called the fundraiser “filth,” and Cruz said it was “child abuse.”

In another district on the Arkansas line, now-former Muldrow Superintendent Leon Ashlock resigned after driving drunk and crashing a school vehicle on Creek Turnpike. Two 100-proof bottles of cinnamon schnapps were found in its console, according to KOCO.

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Walters told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that a case involving a school’s response to an athletic director’s criminal exploits with a student also drew his attention.

“Even in a conservative state like Oklahoma, where voters have overwhelmingly made clear they want the radical progressive policies of the left out of public schools, we continually see superintendents defying their will, ignoring their concerns, and refusing to take action necessary to improve education outcomes while protecting Oklahoma children,” Walters said.

“This has to end.”

“And, the best way to do that is by requiring superintendents to be elected by the voters.”

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Walters called the legislation a common-sense solution to efforts to improve education for Sooner State children.

Walters previously made headlines when he led his state in becoming the first to appropriate funding toward supplying a Bible to each school. The official said the move blunts “woke curricula” and provides students a “historical document” that the founders used to form their government.

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Conservatives worry Congress won't have 'spine' for spending overhaul after DOGE meetings

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Conservatives worry Congress won't have 'spine' for spending overhaul after DOGE meetings

Republicans have big plans for spending cuts next year, but some GOP lawmakers are doubting Congress can muster the momentum for significant changes.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President-elect Trump tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory panel on cutting spending and the national debt, were on Capitol Hill Thursday for a series of meetings with lawmakers on how Congress and the White House can work together to achieve that goal.

And while that advisory panel is chiefly aimed at what executive actions Trump could take, lawmakers are conceding that significant, lasting change must be achieved through legislation. And some Republicans are skeptical they can get there.

“The problem’s in that room,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., referring to other GOP lawmakers who met with Musk and Ramaswamy. 

GOP SENATORS ‘VERY IMPRESSED’ WITH MUSK, RAMASWAMY DOGE FRAMEWORK AMID MEETINGS ON CAPITOL HILL

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Trump announced Nov. 12, 2024, that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would be leading the Department of Government Efficiency.  (Getty Images)

“These guys, you know, they talk real tough,” but they did not vote in ways he believed showed they were serious about cutting spending.

“You don’t see a lot of that. Now, when is that going to start? Is it going to start just because Elon and Vivek [address us]?” Burchett asked. “I just worry about us losing steam. … We’ve got to get some guts, and people have got to hold us accountable.”

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ FIRST DEMOCRAT TO JOIN CONGRESSIONAL DOGE CAUCUS

Retiring Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., told Fox News “a lot of members” stood up to suggest ways to “save money” during Thursday afternoon’s brainstorming session with Republicans and the DOGE duo.

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“One would think more of them would have been willing to vote, cast votes on the floor of the House in order to do those things early,” Bishop added.

The DOGE discussions have opened up longstanding wounds within the House GOP, whose members spent a significant amount of the 118th Congress battling among themselves over how to navigate government funding and other fiscal issues. 

The national debt recently surpassed $36 trillion.

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Rep. Chip Roy questioned whether fellow Republicans have the “spine” to pass spending overhauls. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

A senior House GOP aide expressed optimism about the new goal but added that Musk and Ramaswamy were “swinging for the fences.”

“The hard part is once they find the stuff to cut, I think it’s Congress who has to do the actual cutting, right?” the aide said.

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Another senior GOP aide said, “The mission of DOGE is worthy and absolutely necessary, but nothing is going to change. We aren’t going to cut spending like we [have to] to get our fiscal house in order, and we aren’t going to slash waste at any significant level.”

US NATIONAL DEBT HITS A NEW RECORD: $36 TRILLION

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, also skeptical, told Republicans at Thursday’s meeting they needed to “grow a spine” to actually move meaningful spending cuts.

“I’ve said to my colleagues, ‘If you can’t print money, if, literally, it was banned today, what would you do?’ You would do what you do for your home budget. You would say, ‘Well, we can’t take a vacation here. I can’t get a fancy new car because I need to get braces for my child,’” Roy told WMAL radio host Larry O’Connor.

“We don’t ever do that, and, until we do, all of the DOGE waste-cutting in the world won’t help. We’ve got to do both. We need the waste-cutting, but we need Congress to grow a spine.”

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MIKE JOHNSON WINS REPUBLICAN SUPPORT TO BE HOUSE SPEAKER AGAIN AFTER TRUMP ENDORSEMENT

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President-elect Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE. (Brandon Bell)

Some Republicans are skeptical of having Musk and Ramaswamy lead the charge.

“They had no game plan — a wish list that they’re giving to Santa and the American people that will never be even remotely accomplished,” one GOP lawmaker, granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital of Thursday’s meeting.

The GOP lawmaker called DOGE a “magical department that has been erected out of thin air,” and pointed out its logo was heavily inspired by a cryptocurrency known as “dogecoin” that Musk has backed.

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“They’re going to run into a brick wall called ‘members of Congress who know how to do our job,’” the lawmaker said.

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A city council race was tied so this California city drew straws to decide who won

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A city council race was tied so this California city drew straws to decide who won

When it came down to deciding a tied race for a Galt City Council seat, the longest straw won.

Three people ran this year for two open seats on the City Council: Tim Reed won one of them with 5,870 votes, according to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters. But Mathew Pratton and Bonnie Rodriguez tied with 3,882 votes each, meaning they had to put to a test a tiebreaker voters approved earlier this year.

Ahead of Tuesday’s regularly scheduled City Council meeting, Pratton and Rodriguez both drew straws. Rodriguez drew the short straw, making Pratton the winner.

“It’s pretty crazy for it to come down to this,” Pratton told KCRA-TV. “Each one, it got a little closer and got a little closer. So, it was pretty interesting.”

Galt is a city south of Sacramento with a population of about 26,000. Galt City Clerk Tina Huber told CBS News that deciding the outcome of a tied race by drawing straws would be much cheaper than holding a special election at a cost of at least $100,000. The cost of a pack of straws: $3.

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“Having a special election is extremely expensive, especially for a small city. Instead of pushing those funds on the city taxpayers, they voted to draw straws,” she added.

Rodriguez told the outlet that she and Pratton are friends.

“We have texted back and forth,” she added. “And at one point, he joked that in order to solve it, maybe we need to do a calf roping contest or something. It’s all in good fun.”

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Scott Walker calls nixing of landmark WI law that led to mass protests in 2011 a 'brazen political action'

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Scott Walker calls nixing of landmark WI law that led to mass protests in 2011 a 'brazen political action'

Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker spoke out after a county judge in Madison struck down major parts of a 2011 law geared toward public employee unions. 

Dane County Judge Jacob Frost ruled that the provisions of a law known as Act 10, which selectively exempt certain public workers from its restrictions on unionization and collective bargaining, are unconstitutional. The controversial law sought to close a budget deficit by limiting collective bargaining, thereby moderating public workers’ benefits that Walker said at the time helped solve a fiscal situation he was required to address.

The original passage in 2011 led to weekslong protests inside the state Capitol, and even saw legislative Democrats flee to neighboring Illinois to prevent Republicans from reaching a quorum to vote on it. Walker later survived a 2012 recall election over the law’s passage and rode his success into a decent showing in the 2016 presidential race, where he eventually bowed out of the primary that ultimately went to Donald Trump. 

On Tuesday, Walker, who currently leads the conservative-training nonprofit Young America’s Foundation (YAF), said his law simply took power “out of the hands of the big union bosses and put it firmly into the hands of the hardworking taxpayers…”

“And what this court decision did as brazen political action was to throw that out and put power back in the hands of those union bosses,” he said in an interview, calling collective bargaining not a right but an “expensive entitlement.”

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POMPEO CLAIMS TEACHERS’ UNION BOSS IS AMONG THE ‘MOST DANGEROUS PEOPLE’ IN US

Asked about Frost’s assertion that disparate treatment of collective bargaining rights of certain “public safety” workers and other public workers was unconstitutional, Walker said it was a “bogus political argument.” 

Frost stripped more than 60 sections of the law from the books.

The law was upheld multiple times at the state and federal levels, Walker replied, adding a new issue is that of a potentially-growing “liberal activist majority” on the officially nonpartisan Wisconsin Supreme Court that may hear any appeal of the ruling.

Walker said that if appealed, the first place the case will land is in Waukesha court, which he predicted would overturn Frost. But a subsequent appeal by the left would bring it before the state’s high bench.

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“It’s all the more reason why the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin this spring (2025) is more important than ever,” he said.

Walker went on to discuss the roots of Act 10, and how it was his way of abiding by Wisconsin’s balanced-budget requirement. He noted the original name was the “Budget Repair Act” and that a prior Democratic administration instead chose to cut funding for municipalities, which instead resulted in layoffs.

Instead of risking job loss or Medicare cuts, Walker opted to require public workers to contribute more to their entitlements in return for keeping their pensions solvent.

WALKER SAYS WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS ARE MOTIVATED

Demonstrators protest where Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was delivering his budget address. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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In addition, Wisconsin Senate President Chris Kapenga echoed Walker’s claim that partisan politics played a role in the ruling:

“[I]t’s proof there is very little justice left in our justice system. Wisconsin’s legislature should be discussing impeachment, as we are the only check on their power,” said Kapenga, R-Oconomowoc.

“Believing Dane County judges and the liberal majority in our state Supreme Court are independent jurists is almost as far-fetched as believing the border is secure, inflation’s not a problem, or [President Biden] won’t pardon his son.”

“The left keeps telling us, ‘Don’t believe what you see’ — Wisconsinites see right through it,” he said.

As for Walker’s current role as president of YAF, he said his organization is preparing for conservative leadership to return to Washington as he brought it to Madison in 2010.

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Walker said he is thrilled by the prospect of seeing many YAF alumni in the new Trump administration, including Stephen Miller, a top aide to Trump and formerly ex-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Sergio Gor, a longtime aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was named Trump’s head of presidential personnel last month. Walker praised Gor’s prior work leading YAF’s George Washington University chapter.

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Members of Code Pink hold signs to protest Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“Four years ago, younger voters sided with Biden by 25 points,” Walker said. “This election, that shrunk right down to 5 or 6 points. And most interestingly, young men four years ago went with Biden by 15 points. In this election, they shifted to Trump by 14. What we need to do is lock that in.”

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