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State Sen. Mary Easley says research shows that children learn better when they are physically active. For this reason, she has authored Senate Bill 1186, which passed the Senate Education Committee Monday, to encourage schools to integrate an additional hour of physical activity each week in addition to the hour of physical education already mandated by law.
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In an effort to stop the brain drain of aerospace engineers from the state, Sen. Mike Mazzei has proposed a $5,000, five-year tax credit for new engineering graduates who take jobs in Oklahoma. Senate Bill 1171 was approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday. Mazzei said Oklahoma companies are having a hard time filling those jobs, and it is only getting worse.

One state legislator is working to ensure that Oklahoma has more accurate and reliable graduation and dropout statistics so that officials can help more students stay in the classroom. State Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson has authored Senate Bill 1634 requiring the state to use the high school graduation formula approved and accepted by the National Governor’s Association (NGA) and the governors of all 50 states. The same measure received approval from the Senate last year, but not the House.
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Claremore Senator Calls Graduation Coaches an Innovative Idea

State Senator Sean Burrage (D-Claremore) said today Senate Bill 1694, which will pair at-risk Oklahoma students with community mentors, passed unanimously out of the Senate Education Committee. The bill creates a graduation coach program within the Oklahoma State Department of Education that will assist in giving Oklahoma students valuable life tools and helping them stay on track to graduate.

The Senate Education Committee passed legislation Monday that would encourage school districts to include a special emphasis on autism as part of any professional development program on special education that may be provided to teachers in the district.

Senate Bill 1686 is authored by State Senator Mary Easley, D-Tulsa, and will now go to the full Senate for consideration.

Senator Easley said she is particularly passionate about this piece of legislation because autism personally touches her life every day through interaction with a special family member.

Oklahoma must decide whether to hire additional driver license examiners or consolidate current testing sites. State Sen. Kenneth Corn said more and more Oklahomans are becoming frustrated by a shortage of examiners. Corn said Oklahomans who’ve taken time off from work or school to take their driving exam often find themselves waiting hours to be tested, or find no examiner is available to test them at all.
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On Wednesday, Republican budget leaders outlined a number of concerns with Governor Brad Henry’s FY 2008 budget. Below is a summary of the problems described by Senate Appropriations Co-Chairman Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher, and House Appropriations and Budget Chairman Ken Miller.

EXTENDING THE SCHOOL YEAR: The governor proposed extending the school year by 5 days in his State of the State of address, but he did not include the $90 million that Superintendent Sandy Garrett requested to extend the school year.
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The Oklahoma State Senate unanimously passed a concurrent resolution Tuesday denouncing the state’s racial segregationist past and called for the Senate to begin Oklahoma’s second century free from all racial bias or prejudice and declared its intention to remain so during all future operations.
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Co-Chair Mazzei Discusses Legislation to ‘Sunset’ Most Tax Incentives, Proposes Criteria for Future Tax Breaks

The State Senate Finance Committee began a review of Oklahoma’s tax incentives on Tuesday, hearing testimony from Dr. James Wilbanks, chairman of the state Incentive Review Committee.

Wilbanks discussed his committee’s work, and their proposed criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of tax incentives.

Finance Committee Co-Chairman Mike Mazzei said he wants the tax incentive review to be a bipartisan effort.