Oklahoma Councilor for Public Accountability

I have known Robert Franklin as a professional colleague and friend for more than thirty years.  He shared with several of us on Thursday that he will file for election to the office of State Superintendent for Public Instruction on Wednesday, April 1.  This is good news.  Robert is a gifted and accomplished educator who cares deeply about Oklahoma’s children and their educational success.  Previously I had planned to vote for Rob Miller, also a former professional colleague and outstanding public schools administrator, but following the unexpected loss of his wife Rob has announced the end of his campaign and instead is also supporting Robert Franklin. 

Robert faces an enormous challenge in mounting a statewide campaign ahead of the June 16 primary election.  I encourage all who care about the future of public education in Oklahoma to step up and help him.  Here are his closing words to his early supporters:

“We can muster the courage and conviction if we stay focused. I am committed to support the work for our communities, families and most importantly for our students and educators. There is no doubt that our state’s economic development and well-being depends on public education which is powered by dynamic and well trained educators…we have slipped over the past decade, yet we can be inspired to collectively be stronger and bolder in service to our educators and support staff. Lastly, we are all broken in some kind of manner: some are bigger, some are stronger and run faster, some are gifted singers and talented musicians, some read and calculate more aptly than others , yet we are all broken in some kind of manner; spiritually, emotionally, physically, intellectually. Thus, our ultimate commission , taught by our spiritual guidepost, is that if each of us works to help someone who is a little more broken then the chain becomes stronger and lifts us all to a higher and more noble place… Onward, Robert”

What follows is additional information about what you can do and the upcoming election.

Website:  likely to be live in next 48 hours

Fund Raising link:  will be built into the website, and programming is under way, but folks can send checks asap to 

Robert Franklin for State Superintendent 2026

17305 West 2^nd Street South

Sand Springs, OK 74063

Last day to change political party registration before the June primary is March 31; go to OK Voter Portal.

Other candidates have announced:  Independent Jerry Griffin, Democrats Jennettie Marshall and Craig McVay (also a retired public schools administrator), and Republicans John Cox, Ana Landsaw, Adam Pugh and Toni Hasenbeck.  Others may file also, but Robert Franklin will be the best choice for Oklahoma.

Robert’s VITA

Robert M. Franklin, Ed.D.

1. Date of Birth:        10-28-1959

• Tenure:                 44 Years of service, Oklahoma Public Education

1 Public Higher Education, University of Oklahoma

29 Public K-12 Schools

14 Oklahoma Career Tech

• Education:

Doctor of Education:  University of Oklahoma, Education Administration  & Curriculum Studies (2020)

Master of Science:      Northeastern State University (1984), Education Administration

Bachelor of Arts:        Northeastern State University (1981), Special Education Teaching

Certifications (Oklahoma):

Standard Certificate, Superintendent

Standard Certificate, Secondary Principal

Oklahoma Career Tech Administrative Credential

Standard Certificate, Elementary Principal

Standard Teaching Certificate, Special Education

• Professional Experience (Oklahoma Public Educator, 1981-2026):

• Lecturer, University of Oklahoma Tulsa (August, 2025 – Present):

Currently teaching doctoral course in Ethics in School Administration and master’s level courses in Politics in Education and Supervision of Instruction. 

• Associate Superintendent, Tulsa Technology Center (February, 2010 – 2024):

Served as district officer for student affairs for 6 distinctive campus locations throughout Tulsa County serving over 6,000 full time students and over 15,000 part time clients.  Essential functions:

• Manage and conduct formal performance reviews for Campus & Program Directors
  • Foster and manage partnerships with Community Stakeholders
  • Policy interpretation and development
  • Final employment interviews
  • Manage Student Affairs operations & work with Legal Counsel
  • Data analysis
  • District Strategic Planning
  • Support district budgeting and recommendations including Capital Improvements
  • Contract negotiations leadership

• Assistant Superintendent, Sand Springs Public Schools (2005-2010):

The district served over 5,300 students, 380 certified staff, and approximately 350 support staff.  Primary duties included:

• Curriculum Development and Textbook and Curriculum Coordination
• Leadership Team evaluations and supervision: (
• Professional Development Training and Coordination for district: 
• Information Technology Coordinator
• Education Foundation Grant Management
• School Bond Planning and Parent Outreach
• Title IV: Safe and Drug Free School Director
• Supervision of Librarians/Media Center Specialist, Counselors
• Coordination of student enrollment processes and course description catalogs
• District Testing Coordinator

• Principal: Charles Page High School, Sand Springs Public Schools (2002-2005):

Duties included supervising over 1100 students and over 75 staff members including 12 different vocational-technical education programs.

• Assistant Principal: Hissom Center, Clyde Boyd Middle School, Rader Treatment Center, Sand Springs Public Schools (1987-2000): 

Served as an assistant principal for 13 years working under the direction of 4 different principals while at the Hissom Center, Boyd Junior High, and at the Rader Juvenile Treatment Center. 

• Special Education Teacher:  Hissom Memorial Center, Sand Springs Public Schools (1981-1987): 

Taught elementary aged developmentally delayed students to read, write, calculate, and interact in a socially appropriate manner at the Hissom Memorial Center for 7 years.

• Nominations, Awards, Distinctions:

• Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame, Inducted 2024
• Rho Theta Sigma Honor Society, 1981
• Hissom Memorial Center Educator of the Year, 1984
• National Service Award, 1985: American Association for Mental Retardation
• Governor’s Task Force on Virtual Learning, 2011: The task force was assembled to help promulgate rules and policies related to virtual learning throughout the public K-12 and Career Tech educational systems. 

• Publications and Professional Research:

• Dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 2020:

Electronically Accessible via:   STUDENT PREFERENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN TECHNOLOGY-ENRICHED E-LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: AN EVALUATION OF THE TTeSN VIRTUAL E-SCHOOL NETWORK (shareok.org)

• Grant Submissions:

Wrote and coordinated Title 4 Safe Schools Grants for a decade for Sand Springs Schools totaling over $1 million.  Wrote and co-authored Federal, State, Philanthropic, and Local community grants throughout the past 40 years, and garnered mm through submissions.

• Professional Leadership Positions:

• Vice-Chair Gatesway Foundation (2023)

• Junior Achievement Tulsa Board member (2015-present)

• Leadership Tulsa Class 57, Leadership Sand Springs (Class 2008)

• Oklahoma Academy for Statewide Goals Committee (2009)

• Oklahoma Therapeutic Ropes Course and Experiential Education Association President (2001)

• Impact on State Educational Community:

• Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board:  Chairman (2018-2024):

The SVCSB provides oversight, training, and serves as the accrediting agency for 7 approved statewide virtual charter schools serving over 45,000 students throughout Oklahoma.  The board has a purview over the HORIZON learning platform that designs and facilitates online and blended learning content to over 65 different traditional K-12 school districts throughout the state.

• Oklahoma Education Technology Trust Board Trustee (2012-2016):

Served as trustee whose purpose was to equip and train Oklahoma common school and career technology students with the technology and technological skills necessary to compete in a global marketplace.  The Trust annually provided over $100,000 for computer and telecommunications equipment, infrastructure, and professional development to implement and advance integration of technology into classroom instruction.

1. Innovative Educational Programs:

• Coordinator of Tulsa Tech e-School Consortium (2011-2022):

Organized and facilitated 21 school districts in partnership to deliver and provide professional consultation and professional development to ultimately deliver online and blended learning platforms for students throughout the Tulsa metro region.  This e-School Consortium collectively saved partner districts over $1.2 million and served over 7,200 secondary students over a 9 year period.

• Project Search (2021-present):

Project Search is a vocational training internship program customized for disabled young adults.  The program is affiliated with the national Project Search accreditation agency, the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitative Services and with Tulsa Tech.  I championed and secured funding which facilitated the partnership with the St. Francis Hospital as an industry partner.  The program serves 15 students in a 9-month training cohort which has resulted in over 30% of each cohort student securing a full time job with the St. Francis Health System.

• Character Education & Drug Free Youth Program (1997-2000):

Crafted and implemented a Character Education and Drug Free Youth Program for Sand Springs Schools that was funded by local philanthropy to reduce drug and substance use among middle and high school students while also working to reduce school suspension and discipline referrals.   The grant program included team building, resiliency, and leadership skills among middle and high school students.  The program included connecting local and regional vendors to honor discounted merchandise and products for students who voluntarily took a substance use test to validate their clean and healthy lifestyle choices.  I designed and facilitated quarterly leadership and team building workshops for over 2,000 students throughout the 3-year grant term.  The outcomes for the grant yielded a 25% reduction in overall district discipline referrals for misconduct and disruption, and the Drug Free Youth Program yielded over 30% reduction in suspensions for substance and smoking use and possession. The Character Education & Drug Free Youth program was modeled by other districts throughout the state.

• Sandite Scholars Program (2004-2007):

Designed and implemented a voluntary Scholars program which supported underachieving high school juniors and seniors with an elective course designed to bolster and support their achievement and completion of College Board approved AP courses.  Yet, these students had never been involved in pre-AP or advanced courses in their middle and high school matriculation.  The program included providing college student tutors and mentors on a weekly basis to help the cohort of students thrive in their AP high school courses.  The success of the program was marked by an increased overall GPA for all students in the cohort including success in their AP courses.  Every Sandite Scholar student in the cohort matriculated to a higher education program of their choice which was a matter of family pride as they were first generation college attendees.  This program was mirrored and modeled by other districts who implemented similarly designed efforts often referred to as the AVID model. 

•  Extracurricular and Community Involvement:

•  “Make Promises Happen” Co-Founder (1985-present):

I am the co-founder of a non-profit camping and recreational program that has served over 50,000 disabled individuals since its inception in 1984.  The program is the second largest recreational program in the state that is dedicated to serving disabled youth and adults, and the “Make Promises Happen” program is located just outside Guthrie, OK.  I have served as a program director and as a consultant to the program for over 3 decades.  The website can be accessed at www.centralokcamp.org.

•    Gatesway Foundation, Inc. – Chairman (2024-present):

Gatesway Foundation is a non-profit organization in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma that empowers adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through housing, employment, and life skills training.

• Home Builders Association-Charitable Foundation Board of Directors (2018-present)

• Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors:

• Jenks Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors (2020-2024),
• Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors (2011-2015)

OK, if you’ve read this far and can guess location of this Thinker photo, lunch is on me:

I’m a retired guy living with my friend in the condominium next to the Masjid Ibrahim in the Oak Hill neighborhood of Austin, Texas. I have enjoyed seeing the families attend for Friday prayers and other occasions from our backyard deck. Just for fun I have placed a puzzle on the back fence facing the parking lot to challenge young scholars who are interested. If you solve the puzzle you can post your answer as a comment to this post. If you want to be acknowledged, leave a name or nickname and I can put the solvers on the fence as well.

Last week’s puzzle: If AA + PC = EA, then what does 23103 spell?

Answer by Gary: PEACE

This week’s puzzle: If PY + A = PH, then what does 43991 spell?

Answer by Gary: HAPPY; though could also be HYPPA which is some kind of bug.

Adults may identify the location of the photo below and I will buy lunch for the first to do so (if you leave a working email address).

It has been identified: “Serpent d’océan” placed on the Saint-Brevin-les-Pins at the Atlantic Ocean coast of France where Loire River enters.

power point for luncheon club

https://ocpathinker.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Finding-Rio-final-1.pptx

facebook of Voices from Both Sides

https://fb.watch/tOk4tvKtmZ/?

https://fb.watch/tOk4tvKtmZ/?

The ironies:

It is about school finance officials in Oklahoma, from the State Department of Education to many of the largest school districts, who did not correctly reason through a numerical issue that can be understood using mathematical analysis taught in first year algebra and required for graduation from Oklahoma high schools.

It was about a State Superintendent who professed great outrage that Tulsa Public Schools financial procedures did not prevent the loss of $600,000 due to fraud by a former employee, but his own agency’s failure to correctly understand the purpose and effect of the state aid formula, i.e. simple algebra, it administers in fact cost Tulsa Public Schools $3.5 million (and their finance officials didn’t know it).

The Policy Implications:

This failure by the State Department of Education cost some 270 school districts $22.7 million. 

A state legislator, probably relying on the misinformation from school finance officials, sponsored legislation that cost his own district, Bartlesville, $500,000.

The Department administers the state aid statute which effectively apportions more than $4 billion in state revenues, yet those responsible apparently lacked the numeracy skills to understand the formula’s financial impact on districts over time which, if uncorrected, can lead to other policy failures (there is a slow bleed that is penalizing districts like Tulsa that is not understood, but is easily fixed).

An Introduction:

Woodie Guthrie’s Pretty Boy Floyd:  “Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered, I’ve seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen.”

To fully appreciate this collective failure, you need to understand the mathematical mechanics involved and the best way I’ve found to explain it is with this example.  You own a rental property that you lease jointly to Joy and Ryan for $100 per month.  Joy and Ryan have stopped talking but have continued their practice of paying $70 and $30 per month respectively, most recently for February.  When Joy pays you $70 for March you inform her that Ryan has only paid $20.  Joy tells you that she will make up the $10 shortfall when she pays April’s rent.  In April, Joy pays you $80.  Are Joy and Ryan fully paid through April now?  Using the reasoning expressed by many Oklahoma school finance officials concerning the real-life facts I’m about to share, they would say yes, absolutely, believing that Joy’s increased payment a month later corrects the March shortfall and nothing more need be known. 

Using common sense and some mathematical reasoning you should say that you don’t know if their shortfall is corrected until you know how much Ryan pays for April.  If he has resumed paying his usual $30 then the $110 you received for April satisfies that month’s $100 rent with $10 left over to make up for the March shortfall.  But if he again pays only $20, then, clearly, they still owe you $10.  That’s the mathematical relationship the State Department and many school finance officials misunderstood in a nutshell.

If the previous example and analysis makes sense to you, then you have successfully mastered the second-hardest challenge to following this story. The hardest challenge is accepting that sometimes the experts who are supposed to know how something works, simply do not and fail those who depend on them to get it right, i.e. a plane falls out of the sky, a bridge collapses, or $22.7 million is wrongly taken back from 270 school districts.

The Story:

At the end of my service as CFO and attorney for Sand Springs Public Schools, I was preparing my last budget revision in December, 2015 for board action in January.  I noticed that our motor vehicle collections administered by the Oklahoma Tax Commission were down substantially from my budget forecast.  This source of revenue had been the most consistent, always up and never down, for the 11 years I had been preparing budgets so I had paid it no attention till then.  I put on my lawyer hat and read the statute, which had been amended in the 2015 session, and learned that, in my opinion, the OTC was incorrectly applying the amended provisions to the detriment of districts like Sand Springs and Tulsa that had a lower share of statewide student population then than in the 1990s when the law was first in place. 

Because motor vehicle revenues are one of five “lagging chargeables” in the state aid formula, i.e. the amount used to calculate state aid this year is the amount actually received the year before, I knew there were some in school world who believed that if you were underpaid one year it was no big deal because you would get it back the next year in greater state aid.  I had never analyzed this belief because it had never mattered to my district before.  So I did, using a simple table approach (same as used by opposing counsel for OSDE six years later) and confirmed that in fact the formula is not self-correcting.  The gist of the analysis is that the greater state aid the following year prevents more loss of revenue when motor vehicle collections remain at the lower level, but it does not replace the revenue lost the prior year.  That only is done when motor vehicle revenue rebounds to its previous level (just like in our rent example above).

I calculated that the harm to Sand Springs was on track to be over $400,000 so, as lawyer and CFO for the district and with the full support of my superintendent, I took on the issue.  First I presented my analysis to the statewide group of large district CFO’s and thought they understood, at least no one submitted a rebuttal.  I went with the CFO of Tulsa (who moved later that year to Union, one of the overpaid districts), which was the largest loser, to present my analysis to the Executive Director of the OTC.  He stood by his application of the statute.  I went with the superintendent of Mid Del district, the second largest loser, to present our concern to then state Superintendent Hofmeister and the director of state aid, and asked that they advocate for a correct application of the statute with the OTC.  They listened politely, never rebutted the analysis we showed, yet probably told the OTC that the formula would correct for any underpayments the next year, so no harm, no foul.

With no relief in sight, my superintendent agreed we needed to take legal action.  I sent the analysis to all 270 affected districts (the remaining 140 were all being overpaid), and seven districts, including Mid Del, agreed to join us in litigation.  Because of the way the formula mechanics work, our strategy was only to ask that the OTC get it right going forward, because that would bump back up motor vehicle revenues for the underpaid districts effectively correcting for the earlier losses.  Again, the lagging changes in state aid alone would not correct for the losses.  The litigation was filed using the Riggs, Abney firm in June, 2016 at the same time I retired from full time employment with Sand Springs.  I also started a blog, OCPAThinker.org, where I wrote extensively about the issue and the litigation.

Here is that litigation:  OSCN Case Details 

We won in District Court in December, 2016 with Judge Parrish ordering the relief we requested for the eight plaintiffs.  The OTC appealed so the wrongful underpayments continued for the second fiscal year (Oklahoma fiscal years are July to June) resulting in more financial losses for the underpaid districts.  Then, led by Representative Earl Sears of Bartlesville, the Legislature again amended the statute converting the motor vehicle revenues for districts from the method based on apportioning at least the amounts received the year before, to the current method based on each district’s share of statewide student population.  I’m sure Representative Sears was advised by finance officials that there would be no losses because the formula would correct with greater state aid the following year.  I’m sure legislators thought they were enacting a fairer system, based on student population which was probably supported by the State Department, when in fact all that matters in fairness is that districts actually receive in the current year the amounts that are used in the formula to calculate state aid (an example of why this matters going forward).  Therefore, even if the court’s order was upheld on appeal, motor vehicle revenues for the underpaid districts would not be restored to their prior levels and no correction would happen.

The Court of Appeals in February, 2018, sustained the district court order and expanded it to include all districts, ordering the OTC to calculate the amounts that should have been paid and base future payments on those recalculations.  The Court acknowledged the 2017 amendment to the statute but said that didn’t affect the OTC’s duty.  The OTC appealed and the Supreme Court declined to take it, which left the order in place June, 2018. 

Here is the Court of Appeals case:  OSCN Case Details 

That same year I became aware that the OTC had made an error in apportioning motor vehicle revenues one month and then corrected the error in a later month by adjusting that month’s apportionments up for districts underpaid by the error and down for districts that were overpaid.  We reasoned that since the 2017 amendment had taken away our original plan for corrections, this provided a precedent for how OTC could administratively correct for the underpayments made in FY 2016 and FY 2017.

When the OTC completed its recalculations of what should have happened before the 2017 amendment went into effect, we made demand that they administratively correct the underpayments they had made.  They refused, so we asked the District Court to order correcting payments be made over a thirteen month period, the length of time needed to be sure overpaid districts would receive enough to offset the corrections.  The OTC then made us and the Court aware of the Stroud decision and argued, for the first time, that the underpaid districts had not been harmed because the underpayments of motor vehicle revenues were offset by greater state aid in the subsequent year.  Needless to say I panicked.

The facts in Stroud involved underassessments of property taxes.  Unlike motor vehicle revenues and the other four lagging chargeables, property taxes are charged in the formula based on current year assessments.  The Supreme Court got it right for the formula’s impact on a district’s general fund, namely an incorrect assessment is offset in the same year by state aid.  We showed the District Court, using the table analysis, that a different result happens when the incorrect payment is for one of the lagging chargeables like motor vehicle revenues, i.e. the change in state aid comes a year too late to offset the loss.  So Judge Parrish gave us the relief we requested, that the losses the OTC had caused by the underpayments to 270 districts be offset over thirteen months with correcting payments that would come by deducting the amounts overpaid to the other 140 districts.     

Her order in November, 2018 was not appealed by the OTC and we were faced with the happy question of when should the payments begin.  I had to figure out if the timing of the payments mattered and what to recommend.  For the first time, incredibly, I put the analysis in algebraic form and the answer became very clear.  The resulting equations and proof are what math nerds would say is elegant.  What it showed is that the timing of the payments didn’t matter.  All that mattered was that the corrections not be treated as part of current year motor vehicle revenues when state aid is calculated the following year.  If the corrections are included, then effectively the relief given by the court would be taken back by the State Department through the formula mechanics. 

The first correcting payments were made in February, 2019.   But, then several overpaid districts, including those whose CFO’s had seen my analysis for three years without ever presenting a different analysis or asking to discuss the matter with us, filed suit with the Supreme Court arguing that the correcting payments were unfair to them because they had received less state aid the year following their overpayments and underpaid districts had received more.  They provided no multi-year analysis as I had done documenting the cumulative shortfall underpaid districts had suffered when compared to the Foundation Program amounts they were intended to receive.  They simply said that the subsequent year adjustments were all the correction that was needed.

Here is the Supreme Court Case:  OSCN Case Details 

We intervened and made our argument that the subsequent year adjustments in state aid do not correct for the prior year underpayments, unless motor vehicle revenues rebound to their previous levels.  And that was exactly why the District Court ordered the one-time correcting payments.  I believe the hearing officer understood our argument and that she recommended the Court not take the case.  That was the result and in June, 2019 the OTC was ordered to make the remaining 12 correcting payments all in FY 2020. 

I expected that the State Department of Education was under the same misunderstanding as were the large school CFO’s about the formula’s effect, but I assumed that if they confronted our analysis with actual data, the tables we had shown the courts, and the algebra that proved there was no automatic correction, then they would understand and would not include the one-time payments when calculating state aid.  Unfortunately, I was wrong. 

My first letter to Superintendent Hofmeister was answered by the Department’s attorney and stated their intent to include the correcting payment made in FY 2019 in calculating aid for FY 2020, which they did.  I had a year to convince them otherwise before they included the remaining 12 payments when calculating aid for FY 2021.  I sought help; if they wouldn’t pay attention to me, perhaps they would to someone with credentials.  I found Matt Hendricks, an applied economist teaching at the University of Tulsa with research interests in public school finance.  He readily saw how underpayments of the lagging chargeables are not corrected by subsequent year increases in state aid.  Together with one of his students, we three co-authored an academic article that was published by the Education Finance journal at the University of Oklahoma.

Hendricks-Reaves-Watts-Full-Report.pdf (oucreate.com)

 We showed using the actual data for all Oklahoma school districts, using the table analysis and the algebra, that the state aid formula does not correct for underpayments of a lagging chargeable.  To date no one has rebutted our findings which were made available to the Department’s finance officials and school district CFOs.

The superintendent of Mid Del Schools, one of the plaintiffs in the OTC litigation, arranged meetings with Department finance officials in December, 2019 and January, 2020 where they listened as I showed our analysis and data.  They had no substantive response other than knowing that state aid was greater the year after an underpayment was made.  They did not engage our mathematical analysis or attempt to refute it.  Their minds were made up entirely with the knowledge that state aid is higher a year later, which was always part of our analysis showing the losses still remain.  We later learned from discovery that their attempt at analysis was done with using data from the wrong years.

With the pandemic in full swing and districts’ attention elsewhere than four-year old underpayments, we were left with five districts willing to pursue the matter.  I was granted a meeting with Tulsa Public Schools finance officials to again show them the district had $3.5 million at stake in the matter, but they too, without any analysis of data, were believers that the formula had made them whole.  We filed suit against the Department in June, 2020.

Here is that District Court case:  OSCN Case Details 

The litigation with discovery, the pandemic, having to change attorneys from one whose “head was spinning” with the analysis and wouldn’t move the case, to one who did (Gable Gotwals), resulted in the District Court judge January, 2023, “adopting” the analysis presented by the Department which remained only that any earlier underpayments were corrected by subsequent year greater payments of state aid.  I believe her head was spinning with the arguments made and at the end of the day sided with the Department which absolutely should know how to analyze the effect of the formula, even though they don’t.

Along the way the Department was represented by an attorney from the AG’s office who was also an engineer.  I was delighted that he was involved, naively believing he would see the light and advise the Department to correct its thinking.  He didn’t take our analysis seriously until I told him after a hearing on procedure that the Department’s position was like telling the court 2 + 2 = 5 and he should use his math skills to prove otherwise.  In his next filing he adopted the same table method of analysis as I had done, but his hypothetical included having the motor vehicle revenues return to their higher and beginning level, which had not happened for the underpaid districts.  In other words, he had the correct method of analysis, but assumed the wrong facts. 

We pointed this out in our response to that pleading, but he had left the case for a different assignment and later became a staff attorney for the Department under superintendent Walters.  When I confronted him privately at a later time about his false assumption, he doubled down with no explanation why it is helpful to use an example that misrepresents the underlying facts, i.e. the underpaid districts’ motor vehicle collections did not rebound as his example showed.

We appealed the District Court decision doing our best to restate the analysis and data that show the plaintiff districts ended up losing back the offsetting payments the first district court had ordered the OTC to make.  More than a year later the Court of Appeals in July, 2024 simply adopted the State Department’s analysis without any critique of what we had presented.  We asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to review their decision, which they declined to do in January, 2025.  Thus ended almost nine years of a litigation roller coaster. 

Here is the Court of Civil Appeals “decision”: https://ocpathinker.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20240724-COA.pdf

I continue to puzzle over how CPA’s, an engineer, and others who are believed to be good with numbers, can be so easily misled by numerical relationships that are demonstrated using methods of analysis taught in beginning algebra.  It has introduced me to a field of study called numeracy and the fact that so many adults lack skills that supposedly were learned in school.  An OSU professor who has published about numeracy has suggested to me that it may be more a matter of psychology, such as not wanting to admit one is wrong and/or research that suggests those who know less think they know more and those who know more are more aware of what they don’t know (the Donning-Kruger effect).  In any case, writing about this is a real challenge since the audience will probably struggle to follow the analysis, as have more than one attorney and judges, possibly with heads spinning.   My imaginary title is “Why can’t Oklahoma school finance official do algebra, or How I became the world’s worst math teacher.”

Further background on this website:  The Grift that keeps on Grifting – Oklahoma Councilor for Public Accountability (ocpathinker.org)

Lunch on me for the first to identify the location of the photo.

Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Party is where they first articulate OSDE’s belief that the formula has corrected any harm done.  Some of the introductory section is descriptive of the formula mechanics, though distorted, but the real argument with “proof” begins on page 13 through the end.

Click to access Defendants-Motion-to-Dismiss-Party-230416-1.pdf

Plaintiffs’ Response to Motion to Dismiss is our rebuttal to the above.  Part II and following.

Click to access Plaintiffs-Response-to-Motion-to-Dismiss-230516-1.pdf

Defendants’ Reply in Support of Motion.  Note author is not same attorney who authored the Motion above.

Click to access Defendants-Reply-in-Support-of-Motion-to-Dismiss-230616-1.pdf

Plaintiffs’ MSJ .  Part I and IVB are most relevant.

Click to access Plaintiffs-MSJ-230712-1.pdf

Defendants’ Counter MSJ Part II beginning at page 13 is most relevant

Click to access Defendants-Counter-MSJ-230801-4.pdf

Plaintiffs’ Response to MSJ Part IV most relevant. At page 6

Click to access Plaintiffs-Response-to-MSJ-230812-1.pdf

RPI Response filed in S Ct when overpaid districts sought original jurisdiction.  Especially part IV

Click to access RPI-Response-190228-2.pdf

Petitioners (overpaid districts) brief in S Ct, especially affidavit of CFO Burkett.

Click to access Petitioners-Burkett-affidavit-with-exhibits-190321-1.pdf

Here is pleading in the first litigation where OTC introduced the Stroud decision, at page 5, about current year property tax assessment error, and claimed it was relevant to MVC.

Click to access 180927-Response-to-Plaintiffs-Motion-for-Order-to-Show-Cause-1-1.pdf

Here is how we responded beginning at page 3.

Click to access PLAINTIFFS-REPLY-REGARDING-MOTION-FOR-ORDER-TO-SHOW-CAUSE.pdf

These are resources my granddaughter Sofia and I used for teaching Sunday school at College Hill Presbyterian Church. Here is the You Tube link for the class on August 13, 2023:

The Gospel According to Barbie – Bing video

I have not thought much about Barbie dolls during my life, except that they were not consistent with the feminist movement that Linda and I generally embraced during our married life together from 1968 to 2021.  As a result, our daughter, born in 1975, did not have a Barbie doll while growing up in our house.  We never bought one for our granddaughter either.  Therefore, I had absolutely no interest in seeing the new Barbie movie in the weeks leading up to its release on July 21 (my birthday), until the day before when it was determined that I would accompany my friend and daughter-in-law to the Fashion Valley Mall in San Diego so they could shop the morning of July 21.   I had less interest in shopping than in Barbie, but was motivated by a promised lunch and spending time with them.  So, on a whim and desire to be a bit silly, I decided to see Barbie at its first 10 am showtime at the AMC Fashion Valley 18 theater. 

I bought a ticket at the kiosk, ten minutes late, and made my way past women dressed in pink waiting for the 10:30 show time, to the theater.  My worst fear—that it would be filled with girls and moms in pink wondering what an old geezer like me was doing there—was not realized so I sat alone in a mostly empty theater and watched as Barbies and Kens happily interacted  with each other mindlessly in Barbieland.   I was neither impressed nor entertained.  So I decided to see how many other movies I could see part of before exiting for the world of shopping.  Then the plot shifted to Barbie having some very human thoughts and I remained for the duration being surprisingly entertained.   Here’s our synopsis of the story:

All Barbies and Kens live in Barbieland (later described as being like a town in Sweden) where every day is the best day ever and Barbies are its President, Supreme Court and do every thing else, except Kens who do “beach” only.  The main character, stereotypical Barbie, is the original doll that was the ire of feminists and source of Mattel’s original success.  It seems that Mattel adapted by turning out a variety of Barbies and Kens to capture woke consumer dollars.

So when stereotypical Barbie has her human thoughts she is told to go see Weird Barbie, where we see the infamous dashed lines off China’s coast.  Weird Barbie tells her the human thoughts are coming from the human in the real world who has been playing with her and she must travel there and confront her human to get back her Barbie balance.  She does so, with Ken joining along the way, by traveling to Venice Beach in Los Angeles. 

There she finds her human handlers, a woke teenager who despises Barbies and what they stand for and her mother, who is her actual handler, and who works at Mattel.  Out of nowhere the FBI informs Mattel that Barbie is in the real world and directs that she cannot be allowed to roam.  Mattel tries to put her back in her box to avoid disruption of the real world. 

Meanwhile Ken discovers his masculinity and the patriarchy in the real world and returns to Barbieland to empower the other Kens.   

When Barbie’s handlers, mother and daughter, help her escape Mattel, they go with her back to Barbieland and find that the Kens have taken over and all the Barbies have assumed their subservient roles in the patriarchy.  The mother handler gives a rallying speech, that you will hear in the sermon, and one by one the Barbies are rescued and work to divide the Kens.  With the Kens thus distracted, the Barbies retake Barbieland through an election and all is well again.  Except, stereo typical Barbie decides to return to the real world with her handlers and become human.

When I first googled “The Gospel according to Barbie” there was only one sermon posted, which we will listen to shortly.   Now there is a second from a UCC church in North Hollywood, CA.

The Gospel according to Barbie – Rev. Dr. Pat Langlois – August 06, 2023 – YouTube     

Beginning at the 49^th minute Dr. Langlois uses the imagery of Barbieland being Eden with Barbie and Ken leaving for the real world and how they encounter the God’s love through their experiences.  I highly recommend it as a thoughtful commentary and her experience watching Barbie was so similar to mine, BUT at 30 minutes it is too long to play this morning.

Instead let’s listen to the sermon from Grace Cathedral in San Francisco by Rev. Dr. Malcom Clemens Young, which includes a nice segue from the lesson we heard from Dr. Lisa Davison on Rowdy Broads of the Hebrew Bible:  Women Who Get Things Done.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=2c6fa8d8c1c63171JmltdHM9MTY5MTEwNzIwMCZpZ3VpZD0zNDU3ZjUzYy0zNGI5LTYzMDctMzAyOC1lNjVmMzU5YzYyMzQmaW5zaWQ9NTIyMA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=3457f53c-34b9-6307-3028-e65f359c6234&psq=gospel+according+to+barbie&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cueW91dHViZS5jb20vd2F0Y2g_dj1OYzAxVDFPMXRqdw&ntb=1

I suggest College Hill take up his challenge by inviting Jane Via, ordained as a Catholic priest and ministering at Mary Magdaline Apostolic Catholic Church in San Diego, to share her story here as a Harold Hill lecturer.

The Religions of San Diego, Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community – Oklahoma Councilor for Public Accountability (ocpathinker.org)

The Trouble With Boys and Men – The Atlantic

List of countries by life expectancy – Wikipedia

Reefer Madness:

Reefer Madness | Original Trailer | Coolidge Corner Theatre – YouTube

• Bruce Dart, Ph.D. continues after Kunzweiler
  Executive Director, Tulsa Health Department
• Steve Kunzweiler at beginning of long one
  District Attorney, Tulsa County
• Damion Shade at 17 and 29
  Criminal Justice Policy Analyst, Oklahoma Policy Institute
• Michelle Tilley 8 minute on short one
  Campaign Director, Yes on 820

The panel will be moderated by League of Women Voters of Metropolitan Tulsa board member, Wayne Greene. 

Share on Social: https://fb.me/e/1RDBCXGdS

Watch Live: https://www.facebook.com/LWVOK/live_videos/

The Channel Six report:

Oklahomans To Decide On Recreational Marijuana On March 7 – YouTube

I first visited San Diego almost forty years ago and since have spent more time there, second only to the Tulsa area, than any other place primarily because it is the home of my first-born child.  My most recent visit added a third experience with religion that I associate with San Diego.  This is my final of three posts describing those three experiences and it is about my encounter with Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community. 

Let’s kick it off with the last of the three phenomena, unrelated to my topic, that I call the San Diego trifecta, namely Slomo, here he is:

Dr. John S. Kitchin, M.D., a retired San Diego neurologist trained in psychiatry.

and this photo taken in January, 2020 with him and my Linda :

My third experience with the Religions of San Diego began in June, 2021 when I read this article in the New Yorker.

The article begins with the personal stories of three women, living in Dublin, Ireland, Rochester, New York and Portland, Oregan, telling how they felt called to be priests, but couldn’t do so. It then discusses the Church’s position on ordination only of male priests and dissent from several in the Catholic community about that. Then it describes the ordination of seven women in the Danube River in 2002 by two Bishops not in good standing, followed by more in 2005 at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, the idea being that no diocese has authority in the middle of a river boundary. In 2006 Jane Via was ordained in the Bodensee River between Germany and Austria with others who are now part of the Roman Catholic Women Priests movement.

The world-wide movement is named Roman Catholic Women Priests and here is their website: Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA:

https://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Roman-Catholic-WomenpriestsGOGO.mp4

Jane Via founded the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community which is featured at the end of the 15 minute video from RCWP site at 12:30. She has a PhD in theology and was a staff attorney with the District Attorney’s office in San Diego. On Sunday, October 16, 2022, we attended the mass at Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in the evening at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church.  We were welcomed and, unlike other Catholic masses I have attended, invited to receive communion.

Here is an interview from December, 2009 with Jane Via hosted by the Osher program at University of California San Diego: 

She addresses three challenges she faced in establishing the MMACC. First her experience with breast cancer; second her excommunication by the Church; and third growing an inclusive and relevant community. Let’s listen at 8:45 to her description of the excommunication.

9. Min addresses excommunicated 

20. End of argument on her. Then to removing man who ordained her

23. Then on to describe mmacc. Liturgy etc. 

30. Describes experience at mmacc. 

37 questions start

Here is a video about seven women priests in New Jersey:

I first visited San Diego almost forty years ago and since have spent more time there, second only to the Tulsa area, than any other place primarily because it is the home of my first-born child.  My most recent visit added a third experience with religion that I associate with San Diego.  This is my second of three posts describing those three experiences and it is about my encounters with three yogis. 

Let’s kick it off with another of the three phenomena, unrelated to my topic, that I call the San Diego trifecta, namely a Grunion Run:

When my San Diego son finished his fourth year of eligibility at BYU he was recruited to play professionally for the United States Olympic team in preparation for the 1996 Olympics to be held in Atlanta.  At that time the team trained in San Diego and we enjoyed visiting him there and often stayed at a motel, Surf and Sand, between Pacific Beach and Mission Blvd.  It was on one of those visits that Linda and I strolled down to the beach for a moonlight walk and encountered lots of people and lots of grunion, a surprise to us.

Of course, we attended the Olympics in Atlanta to cheer on the men’s volleyball team and see our son.  We broke up our stay by enjoying the hospitality of three different hosts, the last being a college roommate of mine.  We left his house with two books he recommended:  one which I read on training for a marathon by Jeff Galloway and the other which Linda read, The Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda.   Here is a video about his life and work:

From reading the autobiography she became aware that a community of followers had established a Self Realization Fellowship Temple in San Diego.  After our son married and they chose San Diego as their residence in 2000 we visited the Temple on occasion and attended services there.

Here are the images at the front of the Temple’s hall for services, being the yogi’s spiritual lineage.

The teachings of Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India are founded upon the original Christianity of Jesus Christ and the original Yoga of Bhagavan Krishna (a diety?). The spiritual lineage of SRF/YSS consists of these two great avatars and a line of exalted masters of contemporary times: Mahavatar Babaji (not human? 1865-1931), Lahiri Mahasaya (1828-95), Swami Sri Yukteswar (1855-1936), and Paramahansa Yogananda (last in the line of SRF/YSS Gurus).

Each of these Great Ones played a role in Self-Realization Fellow­ship’s mission of bringing to the modern world the spiritual science of Kriya Yoga.

The passing of a guru’s spiritual mantle to a disciple designated to carry on the lineage to which that guru belongs is termed guru-parampara. Thus, Paramahansa Yogananda’s direct lineage of gurus is Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Swami Sri Yukteswar.

Later our daughter-in-law made us aware of the gardens overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Encinitas, CA that are part of the Self Realization Temple there.  We have visited those gardens a few times.

Another yogi encounter I’ve had in San Diego was introduction to the Jyoti-Bihanga vegetarian restaurant by our daughter-in-law.  It is operated by students of spiritual master Sri Chinmoy.

A favorite of mine that I have brought to College Hill potluck lunches is Neat Loaf. Here is the recipe, though I prefer to substitute rice and flour to deconstruct the Special K ingredient and seasonings in place of the onion soup mix. https://eatdrinkbetter.com/articles/neatloaf-a-tasty-vegetarian-vegan-gluten-free-fake-meatloaf/

Here is his website: http://Sri Chinmoy – United States Sri Chinmoy Centre

Even our most recent trip generated a fresh yogi encounter at Seaport Village in San Diego by the harbor was a man balancing rocks.  I sought him out because I find the practice pretty cool but wasn’t prepared for what followed.

What more is there to say; yogis abound.

I first visited San Diego almost forty years ago and since have spent more time there, second only to the Tulsa area, than any other place primarily because it is the home of my first-born child.  My most recent visit added a third experience with religion that I associate with San Diego.  This is my first of three posts describing those three experiences and it is about my encounter with the Mormon religion. 

Let’s kick it off with one of the three phenomena, unrelated to my topic, that I call the San Diego trifecta, namely the Green Flash:

Now to my actual topic, the Mormon religion.  My San Diego son joined a boys volleyball program coached by Tulsan Peggy McCaw his senior year in high school, 1990, and, after graduation, played with Peggy’s club team in the Junior Olympic volleyball competition held in Albuquerque that summer.  He was scouted by a coaching friend of BYU volleyball coach Carl McGown and recruited by him to enroll that fall as a member of the Cougar volleyball team. 

Linda and I were delighted that he would have the opportunity to play volleyball at a fine university, but as long-time mainstream Protestants, we were more than a little concerned about the attendant exposure to the Mormon faith about which we knew so little.  When the time came for him to attend orientation some thousand miles away at a place he had never seen, we decided that I would go with him.  The trip began with meeting his coach, who assured me he would receive no pressure to convert through the volleyball program but added that there are a lot of young Mormons at the university who are very enthusiastic about their faith.  Following a couple of days of freshman orientation, we took a weekend backpacking trip to successfully climb the high point of Utah, Kings Peak in the nearby Uinta Mountains. 

I said good bye to our son the following morning as he began his four-year stint as a student athlete at BYU and drove to Salt Lake City to await my return flight departing a few hours later.  I spent that time tearfully scouring a couple of bookstores near Temple Square for a variety of books about Mormons that Linda and I could read and learn more about the culture our son would be immersed in.  One I remember well is:  Salamander:  The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders (1989) by Linda Sillitoe and Allen Roberts.

  After devouring those, a couple of years later I concluded my Mormon obsession by reading Secret Ceremonies: A Mormon Woman’s Intimate Diary of Marriage and Beyond, a 1993 autobiographical book written by American journalist and columnist Deborah Laake.  

By then we were fairly certain our son would not become a “hormone Mormon” as I had come to respectfully label those young male athletes who converted so that they could call the love of their lives into heaven (read the book).

There you have it, in my mind the Mormon religion will always be associated with San Diego through my son’s BYU experience.  There are more connections I will mention later.  Here is a video I found by “Saints Unscripted” that is a nice introduction to the Mormon faith:

So as they described, in 1820 Joseph Smith had his first vision in Palmyra, New York during the Second Awakening.  After the Book of Mormon was transcribed and followers recruited, Smith leads the new group of saints in 1931 to Kirtland, Ohio where the first Temple is built. 

At some point it is revealed to him that Jackson County, MO is the Garden of Eden and they try to establish themselves there, but are violently resisted by its residents.  During this time the Mormon center locates at Nauvoo, IL which is kind of a jumping off point for their ventures into Jackson County and later to Utah.   Joseph Smith is jailed in Liberty, MO

In 1844 Joseph Smith was killed by a violent mob in Carthage, IL.  The Mormon faithful then divided into those who believed Brigham Young was the right leader and those who believed Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III should be the leader.

Note:  This split is similar to what happened after Mohammed died, Shias, a term that stems from shi’atu Ali, Arabic for “partisans of Ali,” believe that Ali and his descendants are part of a divine order. Sunnis, meaning followers of the sunna, or “way” in Arabic, of Mohammed, are opposed to political succession based on Mohammed’s bloodline.

Those following Brigham Young re-located by handcarts to Utah and Salt Lake City, in 1847 “This is the place”. It is the political center and location of the signature Temple and Brigham Young University less than an hour south in Provo, Utah becomes the epi-center of young, faithful Mormons.  The church is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, or LDS.

Those following Joseph Smith, III, remain in the Illinois/Missouri area and are initially known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, or RLDS.  Their political center and signature Temple are in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri (as is the Harry Truman Presidential Library).  The RLDS founded/sponsored university is Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, just off I-35 as you go north from Missouri.  While he was not, many of my Linda’s father’s family from Hulett, Wyoming were and are faithful RLDS, now Community of Christ, members.  She had cousins living in the Lamoni area we have visited.

Some further trivia:

Mormon Temple off I 5 in San Diego.  OKC has one also. Can you see Moroni?

Mormon Battalion Historical Site in Old Town San Diego, 1846 leave Council Bluffs, IA, arrive 1847

Salamander pipe bombings and RLDS and the new world history in the Book of Mormon.

Olympian Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner

Joseph Smith’s mother was Presbyterian.

Hormone Mormons and Secret Ceremonies

Sign in Downtown Provo store.

Campus life at BYU:   caffeine,  chapel bells,  missions at 19 and the math therefrom.

My friend who made a career in SLC.