On Monday, a group of 29 organizations and notable figures in the fight to protect the individual rights and freedoms of Oklahoma families released a joint statement condemning SB 224.
The bill has passed the Senate, and if approved by the House, will create a massive, unlimited data collection machine labeled the Oklahoma Education and Workforce Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS).
Deemed a workforce efficiency effort, the system will allow outside vendors to handle the collection of a nearly unlimited number of data points attached to Oklahoma’s school children and their families.
SLDS data will be shared across state and federal government agencies, otherwise known as the least secure space for personal data, and will be accessible to an unnamed number of partners, vendors and researchers.
The data system proposed under SB224 will be created and forever managed by a “vendor” (or perhaps vendors) and governed by an entirely new, paid and expandable board of nine (9) overseers.
The Senate’s cost estimates suggest the bill will create ongoing annual expenses in the millions. Given the vagueness and ability to expand written into SB224, costs could grow without boundaries.
Also on Monday, SB224 was approved by the House Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee on a 7-3 vote.
The bill previously passed the State Senate (33-13) giving voters a clear picture of just which legislators are seeking to serve and protect the interests of the people. In the Senate, it’s a very small group.
Only a House floor vote and Governor Stitt (R) stand in the way of SB224 becoming law. Given Stitt’s recent stunts involving education (see recent reporting), a cloud of pending surveillance through public schools is growing over Oklahoma.
Who’s Pushing SB224?
SB224 was authored by freshman Senator Ally Seifried (R-Claremore). Seifried was all about the “fight for liberty” during her 2022 campaign. As so many before, Seifried appears to have been sucked into the self-serving machine that is the Oklahoma legislature, perhaps by a pat on the back from the few in control.
The bill was quickly co-authored by Rep Chad Caldwell (R-Enid) and Rep John Waldron (D-Tulsa). As recently reported by V1SUT, Caldwell, Governor Stitt and Sen Adam Pugh (R-Edmond) currently represent Oklahoma on the Legislative Advisory Council of the SREB, a highly progressive, USAID linked NGO that has been seeking to override the will of Oklahomans by influencing state education policy since 1948.
“Within the current legislative session, Caldwell has proposed 16 new pieces of legislation affecting public education. His co-authored “Protect Our Kids Act” (HB1075) is a misnomer that also makes it more difficult for the State Board of Education to remove predator educators from the classroom.”
Both Waldron (D) and his wife are public school teachers. Prior to being elected in 2018, Waldron was a teacher within Tulsa Public Schools (TPS), a district recently outed by a state-level audit for employee embezzlement and questionable contracting through a web of 90 vendors and non-profits (see TPS audit slides).
In a press conference about TPS audit findings, Waldron largely side-stepped by stating, “Our urban school districts are centers of citizenship. They turn newcomers into American citizens. They turn young people into effective members of our workforce. They turn people into democratic citizens, capable of participating in public affairs, and that great work goes on every day regardless of what might have been happening.”
Waldron ran on a platform that continues to blame public education’s failures on a lack of funding. He quickly became a favorite of the national education establishment and wrote a series of essays about “Educator Activism” for Education Week.
Waldron serves on the Education Oversight Committee and opposes parental choice in education. He’s also not a fan of eliminating grift in government, as evidenced by his speech last Saturday at the "Hands Off Rally” in Tulsa protesting President Trump’s efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse from the US federal government.
Yesterday’s letter condemning SB224 was joined by grassroots organizations from across Oklahoma who value personal liberties and seek to limit the size and scope of state government.
“SB 224 is nothing more than a Trojan Horse—promising efficiency while delivering a multi-million-dollar surveillance nightmare that undermines privacy, sidelines parents, and strips away fundamental rights—Oklahoma’s version of a social credit system.”
The letter also suggests the bill was crafted to serve special interests and not Oklahoma’s children.
“The voices of the people are being silenced with chatter behind the scenes about the support of this bill from the Oklahoma State Chamber and OEQA.”
Oklahomans are encouraged to read the letter in its entirety. It’s everything you’ve likely been stewing about for years packed onto a single, cathartic page.
History Would Suggest a Vendor/Lobbyist is Behind SB224
In a recent V1SUT interview, former State Board of Education member Kendra Wesson revealed an insider’s example of the questionable alignment between Oklahoma’s legislative leadership and lobbyists for education vendors.
Wesson has weathered her share of conflict in her two years of service on the SBE. During her first meeting, she recalls requesting two $1,400,000 line items for Imagine Math and Imagine Reading be removed from the education budget. In a local control state, district-level boards of education have the right and responsibility to approve and purchase curriculums and contract with online providers.
“I said these are specific curriculums, why would these be on there,” says Wesson. “I was told Mark McBride as a legislator had asked that those two be line items in our budget which meant it didn’t go through curriculum review…I always wondered if that started the rift between Mark McBride and Ryan Walters…I assume McBride had something to lose by us taking those nearly $3 million of items off our budget.”
Oklahoma Ethics Commission filings confirm Wesson’s hunch. Imagine Learning, Inc currently has four (4) lobbyists who regularly wine and dine Oklahoma legislators and sponsor both Republican and Democrat caucus events and banquets.
Filings show Rep McBride (R) continued to take money from a number of lobbyists and ed union executives to pay himself back for personal loans to his campaign after his final (2022) race ended. McBride exited the State House on term limits in 2024. Pam Deering, Executive Director of CCOSA, gave to McBride’s expired campaign fund in 2023, and Ivy Riggs, lobbyist for OEA, gave in 2024.
If SB224 doesn’t sit right with you, identify and contact your State House representative here.
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