Not-So-Random Thoughts on the News:

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Managed care, school choice, and a Muslim American writer

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  • Governor Stitt
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OKLAHOMA CITY – As Southwest Ledger went to press this week, the widespread assumption in Oklahoma state government circles was that Gov. Kevin Stitt would allow Senate Bill 131 to go into effect without any action on his part.

The legislation, aiming to stymie Stitt’s plans to create Managed Care for the Medicaid Expansion process, was advanced by state Rep. Marcus McEntire and Sen. Jessica Garvin, both Duncan Republicans.

The result is a disappointment for Stitt and his hopes to bring burgeoning health care costs under some kind of control.

Compounding the disappointment, SB 131 assures that mixed results for patients will continue. The governor and the Managed Care Organizations he chose last winter will be able to bring some patients into managed care, but the profitable “nonprofit” hospitals will retain their massive financial returns for at least the next four years.

As reflected in last week’s column, SB 131 “falls into that immortal category of legislation on which both sides (primarily, to be sure, t hose in the legislative majority) can declare victory, while not really advancing the interests of beneficiaries of health care.”

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Advocates for robust programs of school choice were happy with enactment of Senate Bill 1080, deemed the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act.

Jonathan Small of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs was effusive after the proposal passed the Legislature and Governor Stitt affixed his signature. In a statement, Small said, “Decades from now, when today’s children are adults, thousands of them will look back and know they were able to achieve great things thanks to the education made possible by lawmakers with this vote today.

“A quality education opens the door to a better life for all children, but especially those whose current circumstances are mired in challenges few of us can comprehend. When those families are limited to only one local public school, many of those children wind up short-changed by a system that does not cater to their needs. By increasing school choice for those families, we are making Oklahoma a better place — a place where families from all backgrounds have the opportunity to achieve and thrive.

“This is a great day for kids thanks to the leadership of Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat, Gov. Kevin Stitt, House Speaker Charles McCall, and the many lawmakers who supported this bill.”

As for Treat, his statement stressed, “The Equal Opportunity Scholarship program provides tax credits to donors who voluntarily donate funds to support education. The grants can be used by private schools to support low-income families and by public schools for innovation or classroom support.”

SB 1080 increases the amount of tax credits within the program to $50 million, with half for private school students and half for public school students. Treat said the program already “has benefited homeless children and low-income families. The changes we are making to the program will help deserving students receive a high-quality education they otherwise could not afford.

The Oklahoma City Republican said, “The changes also will generate more funding for public schools by giving their supporters more ways to donate. This is a tremendous bill for students, families and Oklahoma education overall. I appreciate the overwhelming support of my Senate colleagues and look forward to the Oklahoma House passing the bill.”

State Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, is a persistent critic of school choice programs, although many of her urban constituents rely on them for access to better schools. She asserted, “I am increasingly disappointed the Legislature chooses to ignore the will of their constituents. Handing our tax dollars over to private schools, that have their own sources of revenue and that only a fraction of Oklahoma’s families utilize, is not equitable. The fact is that 90% of Oklahoma’s families choose public schools. That is where our dollars should stay.”

Governor Stitt, a strong supporter of school choice, signed the legislation into law.

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Thursday evening in downtown Edmond, Commonplace Books was hosting a gathering to honor the release of a new book from one of Oklahoma’s best known Muslim Americans.

Dr. Nyla Khan, a native of Kashmir, became an American citizen only a few months ago.

In a review of Dr. Nyla’s book, Prof. Stephen Morrow from Oklahoma City Community College observed: “Professor Nyla Ali Khan’s newest book, Educational Strategies for Youth Empowerment in Conflict Zones: Transforming, not Transmitting, Trauma (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021), is a call to action: action formulated in a deep consciousness of understanding and caring.

“Composed out of her own inborn care for the peoples of Jammu and Kashmir and their trauma of insurgency and counterinsurgency, Prof. Khan asks of her readers to develop a deeper consciousness of the suffering and alienation of the young people there and beyond.

“Simply put, as readers, we are asked to care.”

Morrow also wrote: “I refer Dr. Khan’s work, first and foremost, to the Western reader though her inclusive research and analysis of trauma take us around the historically traumatized globe.

“This consciousness of care is set out through the researchers, thinkers, sociologists, psychologists, and organizations who make it their lifework to care for the traumatized.

“Khan’s insights lay out the deeper human condition that traumas impose damage upon. A fragility of life, that once aware of and conscious of, gives greater insight to the connection and responsibility we have to each other across the globe.

“The care work she calls us to are transforming the ills of trauma to the agency of wellbeing and change agent.”

Speaking for myself, I appreciate Dr. Nyla Ali Khan.

She has a heart for the dispossessed – especially for students living in zones of conflict around the world. For those who read her works regularly, this may seem like a statement of the obvious. That’s ok: Stating the obvious, as I have written elsewhere, can be an act of courage in many circumstances.

Since first I met her in June 2019 (after having read through some of her works in the months before), each exchange of more than a few minutes has turned to our shared concerns for contemporary students in America, and in many other places. While flowing from the tradition of her past scholarly works, there is in this new work a deeper personal and reflective tone.

Yes, this new book is an academic work. Still, the intelligent nonacademic can study it with deep benefit, should they possess or if they fashion a heart open to practical, methodical, caring steps toward a better world.

Americans are blessed – privileged, if you will – to live in a country where ideas are actually taken seriously, at least by many of us. Noble titles as a means to privilege are banned here, yet noble spirits have the liberty to explore and flourish. And each American has the freedom to recognize and honor the best among us.

History teaches lessons, but the past does not bind anyone to predetermined outcomes. Social conditions can seem limiting, yet America is a place uniquely open to the shattering of expectations for those born without fortune or a famous last name. America is a place where a woman of special merit, an immigrant, can emerge as a local leader within a matter of years – a mere fraction of one human lifetime. America is a land of possibilities – as was intended by the best of our ancestors.

Nyla Ali Khan is a brilliant example of possibilities, many of which are realized already.

Her book offers means to help others. It is a book for we, the living, reaching for a brighter future.