Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 • Partly cloudy, and cool. Temps in the lower 50s.

Oklahoma Memo has a Patreon now if you’d like to support the effort with a few dollars. Paid subscribers will get the newsletter the night before it comes out — and you’ll get extra content, chat, video, and more!

There is also an Oklahoma Memo Substack, where paid subscribers receive analysis and commentary on Oklahoma news beyond what is included in the free daily newsletter.

Today’s Memo:

By Ryan Welton, Oklahoma Memo
Click here to subscribe to the YouTube channel

Oklahoma once ranked 17th nationally in education. Today, it sits at 50th — and former teacher and current congressional candidate John Croisant says the slide wasn’t inevitable.

In a wide-ranging conversation on Oklahoma Memo, Croisant traced the decline to decades of underinvestment, larger class sizes, teacher shortages and a shift away from outcomes-based policy. While teachers received a long-overdue pay raise in 2018, he said the state failed to fund additional teachers, support staff and classroom resources — leaving many schools with 35–40 students per class and fewer opportunities for individualized learning.

Croisant, who taught in Oklahoma schools for more than a decade and now serves on the Tulsa Public Schools board, argued that recent education debates have focused more on politics than performance. He pointed to reading proficiency and college- and career-readiness as the most reliable indicators of long-term success, citing Tulsa Public Schools as an example of steady improvement after adopting a strategic, outcomes-focused plan — even without additional state funding.

The conversation also addressed school choice and private school tax credits, with Croisant noting that most voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools and were not economically disadvantaged — meaning public schools lost funding without seeing reduced enrollment or costs.

At the federal level, Croisant warned against eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, which he said provides accountability and roughly 10% of school funding through programs like Title I and special education support. He argued that federal policy should focus on fully funding existing programs, addressing the national teacher shortage, and giving local districts flexibility to invest in proven strategies.

Croisant is running for Congress in Oklahoma’s 1st District, which includes Tulsa and northeastern Oklahoma. His campaign centers on affordability, education investment and accountability at every level of government.

By Ryan Welton, Oklahoma Memo
Click here to subscribe to the YouTube channel

Oklahoma Memo’s weekly chat with journalist and “Make It Make Sense” host Grant Hermes dove into two stories with big implications for Oklahoma and the country: the Samantha Fulnecky case at OU and potential war-crime allegations facing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hermes and Oklahoma Memo curator Ryan Welton walked through why Fulnecky’s grading dispute with a transgender graduate assistant has become a national cause for groups like Turning Point USA and Moms for Liberty.

They also unpacked reporting that Hegseth allegedly gave a “kill them all” order after a U.S. strike on suspected drug boats left survivors clinging to wreckage in the Caribbean, a move military lawyers say could violate both the Pentagon’s Law of War manual and the Geneva Conventions. Congressional investigations are under way, and Hermes says the case could define how this administration views rules of engagement.

Hermes also plugged his new civics newsletter, “Things You Forgot from Civics Class,” which breaks down how war powers, separation of powers and other basics actually work in 2025 politics.

You can listen to Grant’s work wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to him on Substack, and subscribe to him on YouTube.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

A hand-curated list of the best journalism from across the state:

• BREAKING: Another OU teacher suspended (OU Nightly)

• University of Oklahoma students march in support of suspended instructor (KOSU)

• Special election set for Oklahoma City House seat (Oklahoma Voice)

• OU grad students seek apology, protection for instructor in essay debate (The Oklahoman)*

• Zach Bryan to hold concerts at University of Tulsa next year (Public Radio Tulsa)

• ‘I’m nailed to the wall’: Former Lindsay bank President Danny Seibel indicted for conspiracy, fraud (NonDoc)

• Tax Commission opposes Supreme Court review of Muscogee citizen tax case (Gaylord News)

• OKC Mayor David Holt draws lone challenger in reelection bid; others file in Oklahoma County (NonDoc)

• Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis is a century-old problem. Akey Ulteeskee's story proves it (KOSU)

• Oklahoma politicians, Ryan Walters defends OU student’s Bible-based essay, call for university action (OU Daily)

• Oklahoma teachers call for more input in education policy (Oklahoma Voice)

• Oklahoma County's new jail cost soars to $835 million, more than 3 times amount approved by voters (KOCO)

• ‘She was our queen’: Tulsa community celebrates life and legacy of Mother Fletcher (Tulsa Flyer)

• Oklahoma National Guard to deploy to Washington, D.C. (KOCO)

• OKC schools extends Superintendent Jamie Polk’s contract, ups her salary (Oklahoma Voice)

• Oklahoma reveals A-F grades for public school results (Oklahoma Voice)

• “It made me feel like a sucker”: Long-running lawsuits accuse State Farm of billion-dollar hail scheme (Oklahoma Watch)

• Three Oklahoma congressmen ranked as ‘highly effective’ lawmakers (Oklahoma Voice)

• ONEOK benefits from 'Big Beautiful Bill' and poised to help with AI data centers, officials say (Tulsa World)

• After completing fundraising mission, OKPOP gets rolling with plans to open in 2028 (Tulsa World)

• Oklahoma lawmakers reflect on challenges in Congress with major deadlines ahead (News 9)

Everyone talks about AI, but no one has the time to learn it. So, we found the easiest way to learn AI in as little time as possible: The Rundown AI.

It's a free AI newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the latest AI news, and teaches you how to apply it in just 5 minutes a day.

Plus, complete the quiz after signing up and they’ll recommend the best AI tools, guides, and courses – tailored to your needs.

Sign up to start learning.

If you’re interested in partnering with Oklahoma Memo, reach out to me at [email protected]. We have ad spaces available in this newsletter, on social media and in our podcasts.

The ‘Oklahoma Memo’ mission is simple: Reignite the daily local news habit by connecting Oklahomans and those who love Oklahoma to quality sources of news and vetted information.

✅ Save you time.
✅ Make you smarter.
✅ Strengthen your community.

‘Oklahoma Memo’ is on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. There is also a YouTube channel — and it’s all growing day by day.

Message me anytime at [email protected].