Welcome to the Friday, Feb. 21, Brew.
By: Briana Ryan
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- Test scores and immigration policy cause infighting in Oklahoma
- This week’s On the Ballot is all about interstate compacts
- Did you know that Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed the most bills of any president?
Test scores and immigration policy in schools cause infighting in Oklahoma
The Trump administration’s push to curb undocumented immigration through greater enforcement has had a number of ripple effects on state and local governments. We’re watching some of that play out right now in Oklahoma, where the enforcement of immigration policy in public schools has caused a rift between the state’s Republican governor and the Republican superintendent of public instruction.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s happening in the state.
On Feb. 11, Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) removed Donald Burdick, Kendra Wesson, and Katie Quebedeaux from the Oklahoma State Board of Education (OSBE). That same day, Stitt nominated Ryan Deatherage, Michael Tinney, and Chris VanDenhende to the board.
In a statement regarding the board shake-up, Stitt said, “After months of headlines followed by disappointing NAEP scores this month, it’s clear that our education infrastructure has fallen prey to needless political drama. If we want to be the best state for business, we need to make sure our kids have a path to success.”
Stitt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters (R)—who chairs the board—have disagreed over an OSBE rule that would have required districts to collect students’ immigration status. The board unanimously approved the rule on Jan. 28.
Stitt—who has the final say over whether the rule gets implemented— said, “Collecting 6, 7, 8-year-old kids’ addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma, that’s not a public safety issue. Let’s go after the people that are committing crimes, and let’s not terrorize and make our kids not show up for school.”
Walters proposed the rule after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ended a policy that generally prohibited U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from making arrests in schools, churches, and other locations.
Walters said, “For years the liberal media has been vilifying Republicans for separating illegal immigrant children from their parents. Now they want us to explain why we’d let ICE agents into schools. The answer is simple: we want to ensure that deported parents are reconnected with their children and keep families together.”
Walters was elected education superintendent in 2022. Stitt previously appointed Walters secretary of education in 2020, a position he held until 2023. In Oklahoma, the secretary of education oversees the day-to-day operations in the state’s public schools, while the superintendent of education is responsible for giving advice and making recommendations to the OSBE.
The Oklahoma Senate must confirm the appointments. The OSBE has six appointed members, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction serves as chair.
Forty-eight states have a state board of education, an executive branch agency overseeing K-12 public schools. Minnesota and Wisconsin are the only states without a state board of education (the Minnesota Legislature voted in 1998 to eliminate the board and transfer its duties to the education commissioner). The map below shows how board members are chosen in each state.
A version of this story appeared in our Hall Pass newsletter on Feb. 19. Hall Pass covers the conversations driving school board politics and education policy. Click here to sign up.
This week’s On the Ballot is all about interstate compacts
In this week’s new episode of On The Ballot, host Geoff Pallay and guest Joana da Silva-Gonzalez— manager of policy initiatives at West Virginia University’s Knee Regulatory Research Center—will talk about interstate compacts, their history, and how they work.
An interstate compact is a contractual arrangement between two or more states in which the states agree on a specific policy issue and either adopt a set of standards or cooperate on a particular regional or national matter.
Agreements between states date back to before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, when they were used to settle disputes between states. Between 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, agreements between states were enacted as treaties.
According to the Council of State Governments (CSG), 36 compacts were approved between 1783 and 1920. Compacts became more prevalent after 1920, with 191 formed between 1921 and 2014.
According to the CSG’s National Center for Interstate Compacts, there are more than 250 active compacts nationwide. Some examples of interstate compacts include the New York-New Jersey Port Authority Compact of 1921, the Driver License Compact, and the Big Blue River Compact.
Subscribe to On the Ballot on YouTube or your preferred podcast app, or click the link below to listen.
Did you know that Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) vetoed the most bills of any president? Roosevelt, who served from 1933 to 1945, vetoed 635 bills that Congress sent him. Grover Cleveland (D), who was in office from 1885 to 1889 and then from 1893 to 1897, comes in second with 414 vetoes.
Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution authorizes the president to veto bills passed by Congress. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate. Overall, presidents since George Washington have issued 2,596 vetoes, and Congress has successfully overridden 112.
Recent presidents have not issued nearly as many vetoes as Roosevelt or Cleveland. Joe Biden (D) issued 13 throughout his term. In his first term, Donald Trump (R) issued 10. Trump has not vetoed any legislation so far in this second term. Barack Obama (D) issued 12, the same number as George W. Bush (R).
Click here to learn more about presidential vetoes.