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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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Congress eyes 14.5% pay hike for junior troops, limits on transgender treatment in $895B defense bill

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Congress eyes 14.5% pay hike for junior troops, limits on transgender treatment in 5B defense bill

Congressional leaders have agreed to terms for this year’s defense policy bill, with nearly $900 billion in spending, new limits on transgender-related medical care and a significant raise for young U.S. service members.

Roughly 1,800 pages detailing the new National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), legislation that outlines U.S. defense and national security priorities each fiscal year, were released Saturday evening.

The bill details policy for $895.2 billion in federal spending.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the bill “refocuses our military on its core mission of defending America and its interests around the globe by supporting law enforcement operations and the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border, expediting innovation and reducing the acquisition timeline for new weaponry, supporting our allies and strengthening our nuclear posture and missile defense programs.”

DOZENS OF PROMINENT VETERANS SIGN ONTO LETTER SUPPORTING ‘OUTSTANDING’ HEGSETH NOMINATION AMID CONTROVERSIES

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Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will need to navigate passage of the NDAA this month (Reuters)

It includes a 14.5% pay raise for junior enlisted troops, according to the Republican leader’s office.

Another provision says “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization may not be provided to a child under the age of 18,” referring to the transgender children of U.S. service members.

The measure sparked backlash from the Human Rights Council, which called it an “attack” on military families.

“This cruel and hateful bill suddenly strips away access to medical care for families that members of our armed forces are counting on, and it could force service members to choose between staying in the military or providing health care for their children,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

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TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS

President Biden speaks to members of the 82nd Airborne Division at the G2A Arena, Friday, March 25, 2022, in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Biden speaks to members of the 82nd Airborne Division at the G2A Arena March 25, 2022, in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The bill also includes border security elements Republicans had previously pushed for, including a bipartisan initiative to create a Northern Border Mission Center under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

According to Johnson’s office, it would also “fully support the deployment of National Guard at the southwest border to intercept illegal aliens and drugs.”

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., touted the significant pay raise for junior troops. He also said the NDAA “puts our service members first by boosting compensation, improving housing, supporting the spouses of service members, increasing access to child care and ensuring access to medical care.” 

Other provisions also place limits on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)-based recruitment and the teaching of critical race theory in military-run schools.

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GOP TENNESSEE AG REACTS TO ORAL ARGUMENTS IN SUPREME COURT TRANSGENDER RIGHTS CASE: ‘FEEL REALLY GOOD’

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala.

House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers touted the bill’s pay raise for junior troops. (Getty Images)

The House is expected to vote on the NDAA next week.

The policy bill traditionally has passed with wide bipartisan support, save for some progressives and conservatives who are normally critical of the U.S. defense industrial complex.

However, it’s not immediately clear how many Democrats will be put off enough by its anti-DEI and anti-transgender medical care provisions to vote against the must-pass legislation.

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California voters wanted stricter penalties for crime. Can reformers find a new message?

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California voters wanted stricter penalties for crime. Can reformers find a new message?

Criminal justice reform advocates spent the summer warning that efforts to oust California’s progressive district attorneys and undo sentencing reforms would undermine a decade of work aimed at reducing mass incarceration, prioritizing rehabilitation and holding police accountable for excessive force.

Come November, voters didn’t listen.

In Los Angeles County, Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and onetime Republican, unseated George Gascón as district attorney. Progressive firebrand Pamela Price was recalled in Alameda County. And Proposition 36, which will lengthen jail and prison sentences for some drug and theft charges, passed by double-digit margins in all but one of the state’s 58 counties.

After those resounding election defeats, some political strategists wonder whether reform-minded candidates need to readjust their messaging. Many reform movement leaders and progressive prosecutors, however, have shown no signs of backing down.

Roy Behr, a longtime consultant to Democratic campaigns in Los Angeles, warned that a perceived failure to find middle ground on criminal justice issues risks further alienating voters who want answers to visible signs of unrest — like smash-and-grab robberies and open-air drug use on city streets.

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“The choices have basically been crackdown or it’s time for reform, and there’s been very little nuance in the back-and-forth,” said Behr. “Voters want police to behave fairly and justly. They also want to be able to go to a store and not worry if someone is going to come running through and do a smash and grab.”

In the L.A. County district attorney race, Gascón held tight to his vision of restorative justice and alternatives to prison, standing against Proposition 36 while polls showed broad public support for the measure.

Following his victory, Hochman told The Times he thinks his opponent and other progressives offered the public a false binary between reform and safety.

Although he spent much of his campaign positioning himself as someone who could restore justice in a version of Los Angeles County that he likened to “Gotham City” under Gascón, Hochman rejects the idea that he was a mere “tough on crime” candidate. Criminal justice, he argues, is more complex than that.

“For the first time in a very long time, a centrist running as an independent won a race where the media and my opponent were trying to hyper-politicize the race into different political camps,” Hochman said. “I think what will end up happening is that the idea that you don’t have to choose between prioritizing safety and instituting real and effective criminal justice reform will be proven over the next four years.”

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Hochman said he thinks progressives have lost touch with the average California voter. He argued that Gascón excelled at highlighting problems — such as the need to prosecute police officers when they break the law and the over-incarceration of low-level criminals and nonviolent drug users — but did little to effect change in those areas.

“Gascón said it was very progressive not to charge people who were engaged in drug use, use of meth, heroin and fentanyl … but he had no answer for the fact that roughly six homeless people were dying every day from overdoses,” Hochman said.

Gascón declined an interview request. Other California reform advocates, however, rejected the idea that the election results were a repudiation of progressive policies.

Cristine Soto DeBerry — executive director of the Prosecutors Alliance, which advocates for progressive district attorneys in California — argued that frustrations over property crime and homelessness that drove voters to support Proposition 36 represented dissatisfaction with the criminal justice system at large, including the police.

Critics often say prosecutors like Gascón and Price — who often declined to file low-level misdemeanors and sought to keep most defendants out of jail before trial — can cause surges in petty crimes such as shoplifting and car burglaries. But DeBerry and others contend that it is the failure of police to make arrests that emboldens criminals.

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According to California Department of Justice records, more than 9 million property crimes were reported in the state between 2014 and 2023. Police statewide solved approximately 711,000 of them, less than 1%, records show.

“These measures passed across the board, and most of the counties in this state are run by very traditional, regressive prosecutors, and their voters said you’re not doing enough,” DeBerry said.

Tinisch Hollins, the executive director of the reform-focused nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice, said Proposition 36 “disguised itself” as a way to offer treatment for substance use disorders. The measure was presented to voters as rehabilitation-focused by including a tenet that offered defendants a choice between treatment and prison if convicted of an addiction-related felony for a third time.

Hollins said her biggest fear is that those in need of treatment still won’t receive it under the new measure.

“County jail will just become a holding tank for people who desperately need treatment,” she said.

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Hollins said the reform movement “doesn’t need a rebrand” and will continue to focus on reducing California’s “reliance on incarceration” even as the state enters a “totally new environment” postelection.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and others have expressed similar concerns over the lack of funding needed in about a third of the 58 counties to carry out Proposition 36, specifically that there are not enough inpatient treatment beds.

A recent report from a nonpartisan research institute found that there was a statewide shortage of treatment beds for those with substance use disorder and that some facilities exclude those with prior involvement in the criminal justice system.

Greg Totten, who heads the California District Attorneys Assn. and was one of the main architects of Proposition 36, said the funding concerns are overblown. He said there are “significant funds” in behavioral health services that are available from Proposition 1, which is a $6.4-billion mental health bond measure voters passed earlier this year. He also said outpatient treatment could be an option if beds in inpatient facilities are full.

Some observers noted that progressive prosecutors elsewhere have had many successes, and said that while there are lessons to be learned from November’s results, ups and downs are also inevitable for long-term political movements.

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Anne Irwin — the executive director of Smart Justice, an organization that educates policymakers on criminal justice reform — considers this election only “one step back.”

Irwin pointed to a study from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll from October that found a majority of voters who supported Proposition 36 also said they want to prioritize understanding the root causes of crime.

She also noted that many successful candidates this year ran their campaigns around the economy — a topic that intersected with Proposition 36. Retail chains including Walmart and Target were major donors, whose support largely came from a profit-loss standpoint.

Hochman successfully courted the support of business leaders, including L.A. mall magnate Rick Caruso and small-bakery owners, highlighting the economic effects of property crime. His “hard middle” approach, which focused on prioritizing public safety and working with police to crack down on violent criminals without completely eschewing reform-minded policies, also worked well, Irwin said.

“The newly evolved Nathan Hochman touted support for criminal justice reform,” she said. “We shall see if that pans out in the policies and practices he implements in the district attorney’s office.”

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Hochman’s campaign aside, Totten and other proponents of Proposition 36 said that voters simply rejected “bad policy” that hurt public safety.

Voters “didn’t feel safe,” Totten said. “They wanted change. I think the problem was Californians see products locked up, they see thieves coming into stores and stealing.”

The dramatic shift in California voter behavior on criminal justice is borne out by data. A decade ago, 59% of Californians voted yes on Proposition 47, California’s landmark resentencing measure. This year, 68% of voters supported Proposition 36, which in effect repealed the 2014 measure.

Higher turnout also led to a huge increase in raw voter support this year. More than 10 million Californians cast a ballot to pass Proposition 36, as opposed to just 3.7 million who voted in support of the 2014 measure, according to secretary of state records.

The voters may have spoken, but DeBerry said progressive prosecutors’ “values do not change” because of election results. She challenged Californians to keep an eye on crime data in the coming years and hold policies and politicians to account if their methods don’t have an impact.

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“After this election cycle, they own it all,” she said. “So if we don’t see drug use subside and we see prison populations exploding and we see crime continue to exist, I hope that voters and the media and everybody will say, ‘You promised this as the solution, and it’s not better.’”

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Conservative group compiles list of 'woke' senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to fire

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Conservative group compiles list of 'woke' senior officers they want Pete Hegseth to fire

As Pete Hegseth continues to rally support for his nomination to lead the Department of Defense, a conservative research group has compiled a list of “woke” senior officers they want him to sack should he be confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) sent a letter to Hegseth with a list of 20 general officers or senior admirals whom it says are excessively focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and other similar left-wing initiatives. Eight of those 20 are women.

Those on the list in many cases seem to be targeted for public comments they made either in interviews or at events on diversity, and in some cases for retweeting posts that promote diversity. AAF says that focusing on such policies is an impediment to national security, while some miliary leaders have expressed concern about the list.

DOZENS OF PROMINENT VETERANS SIGN ONTO LETTER SUPPORTING ‘OUTSTANDING’ HEGSETH NOMINATION AMID CONTROVERSIES

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to defense secretary, is seen before a meeting with Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in Hart building on Dec. 5. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images, left, US Army, right.)

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“The woke takeover of the military is a major threat to our national security,” AAF President Thomas Jones wrote in the letter to Hegseth dated Tuesday and first published by the New York Post.

“As global tensions rise, with Iran on the march, Russia at war, and China in the midst of a massive military buildup, we cannot afford to have a military distracted and demoralized by leftist ideology,” he added. “Those who were responsible for these policies being instituted in the first place must be dismissed.”

The term “woke” is often used in reference to progressive, politically correct stances on race, gender ideology and other hot-button topics.

The group posted on X that the woke leaders need to be fired on day one. “Wokeness has no place in the military,” the group wrote. 

On Friday, the AAF doubled down on its position. 

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“Many don’t want to hear this, but it’s the truth: DEI in the military is going to get people killed. STOP IT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE,” AAF posted on X.

Hegseth, a former Minnesota National Guard officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, has embraced Trump’s effort to end programs that promote diversity in the ranks and fire those who reflect those values. He has long railed against the military embracing DEI policies instead of meritocracy, complaining it also diverts focus away from war preparedness. 

TRUMP FLOATS DESANTIS AS POTENTIAL DEFENSE SECRETARY REPLACEMENT IF HEGSETH FALTERS

Pete Hegseth

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be defense secretary, is joined by his wife Jennifer Rauchet, as they walk through the basement of the Capitol, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

If confirmed to the role, Hegseth would be in charge of 1.3 million active-duty service members and the nearly 1 million civilians who work for the military.

Some of those on the list include Air Force Col. Ben Jonsson, who penned an op-ed in July 2020 demanding his white colleagues “to give a damn” and “address our blind spots around race,” according to the letter.

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Also in the AAF crosshairs is Navy vice admiral Jeffery Hughes, who spoke at DEI summit in 2022 and underscored the importance of DEI recruiting “exceptional talent.”

Air Force Maj. Gen. Elizabeth Arledge also made the list and was noted by AAF for making “woke posts” on her social media.

In one post, Arledge shared articles that featured “discussions of whiteness in org[anization] theory and the ways in which whiteness (verb) has become naturalized as the ideal in orgs.”

Navy Vice Admiral Shoshana Chatfield was also listed and panned for a 2015 speech where she bemoaned that lawmakers in the House of Representatives at the time were 80% males, proclaiming that “our diversity is our strength.”

Navy vice admiral Shoshana Chatfield

Navy vice admiral Shoshana Chatfield was one of 20 people on the list. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Ellis Island Honors Society))

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, said in a statement that “No policy should be deemed official unless it comes directly from President Trump.”

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A defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the list said senior leaders are hoping that once Trump is sworn in, they will be able to discuss the issue further. They are prepared to provide additional context to the incoming administration, the official told The Associated Press, which reports it is not publishing the names to protect service members’ privacy.

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday that the list would have “considerable, wide and deep consequences.” He said when military members see people singled out, they will start focusing on their own survival rather than the mission or their job.

Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News that Trump is reportedly considering nominating Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as defense secretary in place of Hegseth amid allegations against him.

But Hegseth brushed off the potential replacement, telling reporters that he was prepared to fight. 

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“As long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m going to be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be,” he said. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

READ THE LETTER BELOW. APP USERS CLICK HERE.

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