PUBLIC EDUCATION SECRECY EVEN IN DEEP-RED OKLAHOMA: Ray Carter of the Oklahoma Council on Public Affairs’ Center for Independent Journalism reports that the state’s superintendent of public schools, Joy Hofmeister, has refused for more than a year to provide documents detailing how she developed her proposed COVID19 restrictions during the Pandemic.

The Oklahoma Board of Education actually rejected Hofmeister’s plan as unnecessarily restrictive, but there remains a significant public interest in knowing how she developed her proposal, with whom did she consult and what did she view as credible evidence for her approach.

One of the problems here is the absence in the Oklahoma public records act of a provision requiring officials to respond concretely within a reasonable period of time, or face litigation and the prospect of a judge ordering release of requested documents. Somebody in the Oklahoma State Legislature should take note of this and get a remedy proposed ASAP.