Annual ‘Purity Day’ for Youth Event is Next Thursday, April 15

Paying your income taxes isn't the only exciting thing in store for you next week!

On Thursday, April 15, Oklahoma Family Policy Council and the Kids Eagerly Endorsing Purity (KEEP) Program will host some 300 teenagers inside the state Capitol (4th Floor Rotunda) for the annual Purity Day event.

Public, private, and homeschooled students from across Oklahoma will hear from several motivating abstinence speakers, including University of Oklahoma football and basketball players, and be encouraged in their personal commitments to purity and sexual abstinence-until-marriage.

It's not too late to get your class, youth group, or students involved. If you wish to participate, just call OFPC at (405) 787-7744 or email gpoteat@okfamilypc.org and tell us you wish to participate in Purity Day at the State Capitol.

Kem Family Named 2010 Oklahoma Family of the Year

On Family Day, now a little over a week ago, Oklahoma Family Policy Council and the Character Council of Central Oklahoma announced that (drum roll, please!) the David and Janet Kem Family, of Edmond, is the 2010 Oklahoma Family of the Year. And what a fine selection their family is!

Dr. and Mrs. Kem, who have been married nearly 51 years, have five children and 21 grandchildren. Professionally, Dr. David C. Kem is the George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. He is also a guiding force behind the annual A. Kurt Weiss Lectureship on Biomedical Ethics, which for 23 years has challenged O.U. medical students statewide to practice medicine with the highest moral and ethical values. Janet is a faithful wife, mother, mentor, and citizen-activist.

On Family Day, April 1, the Kems were recognized publicly by the state House of Representatives. As a surprise, their five children and many of their 21 grandchildren traveled to Oklahoma City for the recognition. The Kems will again be recognized publicly at the upcoming National Day of Prayer observance at the state Capitol on May 6. You're welcome to attend that annual event, as well.

Congratulations, Dr. and Mrs. Kem! We at OFPC also wish to publicly thank the 25 pro-family organizations that participated in this year's successful Family Day at the State Capitol event.

P.S.  Perhaps you know an Oklahoma family deserving of this honor? We invite you to help nominate the Oklahoma Family of the Year for next year.  You can learn more about the nomination process and criteria by clicking here.

‘One Oklahoma Coalition’ Announces Opposition to SQ 744

Yesterday, numerous business, city, state, and political leaders participated in a joint news conference to announce their united opposition to SQ 744, the proposed public education funding mandate state question, which the Oklahoma Education Association and its allies successfully placed on Oklahoma's upcoming November general election ballot via the initiative petition process. The leaders described themselves as the One Oklahoma Coalition.

If SQ 744 is approved by voters, state legislators will be required perpetually by a state Constitutional Amendment to fund public education in Oklahoma at a level equal to the regional average of other states. The current projected cost to taxpayers to do so would be an additional estimated $850 million to $930 million annually, said One Oklahoma Coalition spokesperson Jeff Wilson. Those opposed to SQ 744 say such a legal requirement would be devastating to Oklahoma's state budget, especially in the current depressed economy.

Currently, Oklahoma taxpayers spend 41% of all annual legislative appropriations on common K-12 education. The state lottery provides additional funding for common and higher education, but SQ 744 proponents say the lottery is not a dependable source of new revenue for schools -- something the Oklahoma Family Policy Council warned about in 2004, prior to voters' approval of the state lottery and the tribal gaming compact.

You can read CapitolBeatOK editor Patrick B. McGuigan's account of yesterday's news conference by clicking here.

To read the views of the OEA and other proponents of SQ 744, click here.

Note: Proponents say Oklahoma spends $8,006 per pupil on public education. However, a January, 2010, report by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, click here, placed the state's estimated per pupil expenditure at $10,257.