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On Wednesday evening, the Oklahoma House passed SB 613, a bill that would prohibit gender transition services for minors in the state. The measure also stipulates that medical providers could face legal consequences if they provide such services, which include surgeries and hormone treatments. While considering the legislation, Representative Mauree Turner suggested the following floor amendment, which failed.

Sue a legislator if someone dies? Would this same line of thinking be argued for vaccine and mask legislation?? Let us remind you of the most recent number of reported deaths and hospitalizations after a Covid-19 Vaccine.

On Monday May 1st, Governor Kevin Stitt signed the legislation into law. Because of an emergency clause, this bill has gone into effect immediately. 

Some Oklahoma democrats, who notoriously voted in favor of taking away parents rights to a vaccine exemption for school attendance, are now claiming that bills like SB 613 are an infringement on parental rights. OKHPR disagrees! Simply put, comparing these two procedures is comparing apples and oranges. A parent can choose to have their child receive a dose of a vaccine at any time, but gender transition treatments are risky, irreversible, and the physical and mental effects of these treatments are still largely unknown. The Highwire released an episode on Thursday called “Lost in Trans Nation” speaking on this issue. We urge you to take a listen to hear about the safety (or lack there of) of hormone therapy for children.

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For the 2023 Legislative Session OKHPR has advocated for two different bills that will ban gender transition procedures for children, SB 613 and HB 2177.

Last week was the deadline week for bills to be heard in the opposite chamber. SB 613 passed committee, and while this a great start HB 2177 was not heard in the Senate by Chairwoman Julie Daniels.

Here are some of our biggest concerns with SB 613 that those of you following and concerned about this issue should be aware of:

1. SB 613 does not have any prohibition on insurance, most states have at least state provided insurance banned and/or reimbursements prohibited, this one has nothing.
2. There is no language banning the use of public funds.

SB 613 now moves to the House Floor to be heard before all members.

We are more than halfway through the 2023 legislative session! There are currently NINE bills that OKHPR supports and are still working their way through the legislature. These bills cover topics such as parent participation in schools, scholarships for children with disabilities, election reform, gender identity issues and more. We have also moved HB 1935 as a bill to watch. This bill has undergone major changes from its original state, so we are keeping a close eye on it and the potential effect on homeschoolers. Please read more about this decision below.

We understand that there has been a lot of concern over HB 1935. There have even been a couple of disagreements between some of our 56 Senate District Captains and the OKHPR Board. Unfortunately, these misunderstandings and disagreements have led two Senate District Captains to step down. One Captain believed that OKHPR was not supportive enough of the tax credit bill while the other Captain left because she believed OKHPR supported it too much. We would like to speak out to make our position abundantly clear.

For the last several years OKHPR has been proud to partner with organizations which advocate for homeschooling freedoms. While we may have small disagreements about the path to education reform, we find common ground on the foundation that Oklahoma MUST remain the most free state in which to homeschool. Some of these organizations have staunchly opposed voucher bills, but have historically advocated for tax credit bills as an option for education reform instead. In one conversation dated January 25th 2022, a leader of a local homeschooling organization stated “Does OKHPR have a formal position on these school choice bills? Why not a tax credit instead? Much cleaner, far more students and their families can benefit, no outside management needed, no worry about strings attached that will eventually tighten up regulation on private schools and homeschoolers.”

In a public post dated March 5th 2022, the Constitutional Home Educators Alliance (CHEA) stated “ESAs are different than tax credits, which do not increase government regulation.”

CHEA also helped advocate for two tax credit bills in 2019 and 2022.

Homeschool Oklahoma has also supported tax credit bills including SB 1083 at the beginning of the 2023 session, as seen on their newsletter here.

Additionally, HSLDA has historically been one of the largest supporters of tax credit bills.

On February 7th of this year a Senate District Captain sent a message to a group chat with other Senate District Captains and members of the OKHPR Board. She asked, “Have we been very vocal publicly on where our group stands on this issue?” The following two messages are the responses from OKHPR Director Liza Greve.

Later that month, on February 20th the first language for HB 1935 was released. This bill was originally a tax credit for children in private school or children educated by “other means of education”.

On February 21st we made the decision to add HB 1935 to our list of bills to support.

This bill has changed significantly as it has gone through the legislative process, including being contingent upon the passage of HB 2775 (a teacher pay raise bill). Other changes include an increase in the private school tax credit and a decrease in the tax credit for families utilizing “other means of education”. There has also been considerable amount of fighting between Senate and House leadership about these bills which we have kept our members up to date on via our weekly email newsletter.

Even so, the bill in its current state does not use the words “home school” or “home education” anywhere. It only states “other means of education”. This is positive because when phrases are used in legislation they must be clearly defined. We do not want to open the door to the state legislature to define home education. Oklahoma is the only state in the US that protects “other means of education” in our state constitution. This offers tremendous protection to families that choose to homeschool in Oklahoma.

However, because of the substantial changes to the legislation in the Senate we knew that our homeschooling families would likely no longer support these bills. CHEA and Homeschool Oklahoma are opposing the bill, while the HSLDA is watching it. Additionally, House Leader McCall has given an ultimatum that he will not hear the updated bills on the House floor. Due to these issues, we have not released an updated opinion on these pieces of legislation since February 22nd 2023.

These bills, despite their numerous changes, have passed both chambers closely along party lines. All republican Senators voted in favor of the bill.

Despite all of the differing opinions and disagreements, OKHPR is committed to our original promise to take each bill one at a time and to carefully consider all ramifications.

It is unfortunate that OKHPR has lost two Senate District Captains who were on polar opposite sides of this issue and did not like our refusal to take a hard line stance. Our organization has never been an organization with a focus strictly on education. Instead our focus is on parental rights. While these issues often overlap, we try to take a stance that advocates for the rights and privacy of all educational options. Legislators have asked us to be involved in the parental rights of schools which involves holding schools accountable, providing more informed consent and opt outs/ins as they relate to curriculum, and other issues of school reform that give parents more rights and choice. Legislators have seen our effectiveness over the last 8 years and school reform has quickly become a top issue in our state. Among our 20k members we have families who utilize educational models such as homeschooling, charter schools, private school, and public school. Our goal is to fight for the rights of all of our families and that’s not always black and white. We will never be a single issue group as health & parental rights is such a broad category.

After careful consideration we have decided to move HB 1935  from *support* to *watch*.

Please help us to spread the word and combat any false statements by sharing this post.

Last Friday, many OKHPR members attended two Oklahoma State Department of Education meetings to discuss rule changes pertaining to parental rights and removing pornographic material from school libraries. One rule being considered could downgrade a school’s accreditation if oversexualized content and pornographic material is made available to minors in school libraries. Another rule strengthens the role of caregivers to be fully informed about their child’s education. And it would require schools to inform parents if their child identifies a certain way.

Parental rights advocates were heavily outnumbered at last week’s public hearing. We need all concerned citizens and especially all available OKHPR members to attend this OSDE meeting in support of parental rights policies.

You can attend the next OSDE Board Meeting pertaining to these rule changes. It is taking place on Thursday, March 23rd at 1:00 PM in Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City.

Doors open at 12:30 PM and it is highly encouraged that people show up a little bit before that! If you plan to attend, please register HERE so we know how many OKHPR members are there!

Talking Points for Parental Rights Rule

• Adults should never ask children to keep secrets! If a teacher is allowed to keep a students secret, how will a student know what secrets are good or bad? Appropriate or inappropriate? If a teacher keeps a students preferred pronouns or sexual orientation confidential this blurs the boundaries and makes it difficult for a student to understand appropriate boundaries with trusted adults. Having secrets at school could make it easier for a teacher to groom a student. A teacher could potentially require acts or favors to keep from revealing a students secret.
• Many of the comments against this rule have been that parents are abusive and cannot be trusted. This language puts a wedge between children and parents. It is very concerning that this language is being spoken publicly by school personnel at these OSDE hearings. Parents and teachers are in a partnership to educate children. We need open dialogue, not divisive rhetoric.
• The responsibility for a child’s behavior, medical treatment, and well being falls on the parent. How can a teacher keep a secret that affects any of those things, while at the same time not having any responsibility to the child or family for the outcome and consequences of those secrets?
• All people in Oklahoma are required to report abuse of a child with no exceptions. If a teacher believes that a child is unsafe and that teacher is keeping secrets to “keep them safe”, then the teacher has broken mandatory reporting laws. This rule further strengthens and supports child welfare guidelines.
• Opponents of these rules have argued that children have a right to privacy. Opponents think parents should be secondary or excluded entirely. Groomer methodology includes separating children from their parents. This is the primary reason we need to pass Parental Rights rules.
• A teacher’s role is to teach academics. Teachers are not equipped, nor should they be expected to take on the role of parenting in addition to teaching. Let parents do their job in open communication with teachers for best outcomes.

Talking Points for Media Rule

• Each family may have different feelings on what is age appropriate for their child.
• Parents are not available in school libraries to make sure that the books that children are picking up off of the shelves are appropriate.
• Making sure that the books available for children in school libraries are age appropriate is not the same as book banning. Parents may buy any book for their child or borrow books from a public library if they wish for their child to read it.
• Some books that have been found to be present in Oklahoma school libraries have been very sexually graphic, including pornographic images. These books have no place in a child’s library without the proper parental consent.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education will have multiple hearings over possible rules changes. This is an opportunity for our voice to be heard; let’s make our voice LOUD! Please register if you plan to attend these meetings and wear an OKHPR shirt if you have one!

Read more about the proposed rules HERE. The written public comment period will close at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 17, 2023.
Written comments may be submitted by email to rules@sde.ok.gov.

Here is an example of a written comment!

Friday, March 17th 10:00 AM
Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City.

Public hearing over rule 210:35-3; Prohibiting school libraries from making pornographic materials or sexualized content available to minors.

Friday, March 17th 2:00 PM
Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City.

Parents Bill of Rights, expands parents rights to be notified regarding sex education materials, including gender identity or sexual orientation; strengthens language against encouraging minors to hide information from their parents.

Thursday, March 23rd 1:00 PM
Room 1-20 (State Board Room) at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard, in Oklahoma City.

Doors open at 12:30 PM and it is highly encouraged that people show up a little bit before that!

Oklahomans for Health & Parental Rights, the largest parental rights and health freedom organization in Oklahoma opposes State Question 820. While we support medical freedom and have many members that utilize the medicinal benefits of cannabis, we believe Oklahoma has one of the most open programs in the nation currently. As we often say, “follow the money”. In this case, the ACLU, Schusterman and a Zuckerberg charity are partially funding the Yes Campain. We have also consulted with many medical marijuana advocates and organizations and here is just a bit of what we want voters to consider as they vote on March 7, 2023.

Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis (ORCA) sent us this statement. “As leading advocates for cannabis, and freedom of use in Oklahoma, we are disappointed with SQ 820, and cannot in good faith support it. Unlike proposals we make to ensure consumer access, safety and a level playing field for industry; SQ 820 does the opposite. Five years ago, a similar policy was approved in California. It devastated a thriving Medical Program. Additionally ,we are more disappointed that the supporters of SQ 820 have not been open about the minimal gains in justice reform that 820 provides. In fact, SQ 788 has already prohibited jail time for simple possession. Some say, “don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good”, that is the second rule of politics. Unfortunately, SQ 820 violates the first rule of politics. “First, do no harm”.

Leading cannabis researcher and OKHPR member, Chip Paul, who was one of the original advocates for SQ 788 told us this about SQ 820, “Most look at Colorado’s transition from medical to adult use. That is NOT an apples to apples situation.  CO had restricted their medical market with medical conditions and had around 2%-3% of their population participating in their medical program.  When adult use happened, this opened the program to CO residents (and also out of state).  Most of the upside of the CO rec program came from IN STATE RESIDENTS who did not qualify for the medical program.   In OK, we have open access and this would not be the case as it was in CO.  Further, 820 would completely reek havoc on the OMMA as it sets up dual licensing and many other administrative issues and problems.”

For more information, contact Liza Greve, Executive Director, at info@okhpr.com or 405-315-4104.

Share this information and the images with others to spread the word!

The war against misinformation and disinformation wages on right here in Oklahoma County. According to Kaiser Health News, childhood vaccination rates for the immunizations students typically need to enter kindergarten are down 4.5% in Oklahoma County since the 2017-18 academic year as parents increasingly seek exemptions to the requirements. Tell your legislators this is what happens when public health and the government follow the money over true science and lose public trust. Let’s continue to ask them and the Governor to hold the pharmaceutical industry and the state agencies that they offer grants to accountable.

Outgoing Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor has been a huge asset for informed consent and health choice during his tenure. St. John Health System has agreed to establish a claims process for employees or former employees who believe they suffered religious discrimination at the hands of St. John Health System. Such employees can contact the Attorney General’s Office at (405) 521-3921 to bring their claims to the attorney general. This outcome creates a potential precedent going forward for employees and businesses as it relates to their health freedom. We want to thank John O’Connor for working for the people all the way until the very end of his tenure!