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www.tulsaworld.com SUNDAY October 13, 2013 $2.00 final home edition 8 11775 00002 3 Sunday - $2.00 SERVING NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA SINCE 1905 Action Line ...... E6 Ask Amy ......... D8 Books ............ G4,5 Bus. People ...... E2 Celebrations... D5 Crosswords .... G5 Horoscope .... C20 Letters ............. G2 Movies............. D6 Obituaries.....A20 Outdoors.......... B9 Tech ................... E4 Inside today’s Tulsa World Follow the World online • Breaking news at tulsaworld.com • facebook.com/tulsaworld • twitter.com/tulsaworld Today High 77, Low 62 Chance of storms. More weather on B10 Get more weather coverage and check out our weather blog at tulsaworld.com/weather Business: Stream music with free apps. E1 Scene: Tulsa brewery gets global acclaim. D1 $145 SAVINGS Coupons worth more than $145 inside. INSURE OKLAHOMA: 6,900 LOSE COVERAGE Melody Cauthon (second from left) of Glenpool and her kids — Ameris (left), 5; Waylon (second from right), 12; and MaKenna (far right), 15 — visit Black Gold Park in Glenpool. Melody is one of 6,900 people who will lose Insure Oklahoma health insurance coverage on Jan. 1 because of changing eligibility rules for the program. CORY YOUNG/Tulsa World Falling into the gap BY ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Enterprise Editor When Melody Cauthon spent six days in the hospital with Rocky Mountain spotted fever last year, the hospital bill totaled $28,000. Thanks to her coverage through Insure Oklahoma, Cauthon paid only $50. Cauthon, a single mother of three children, said the insurance pro- gram operated by the state of Okla- homa is the best health-insurance plan she has ever had. But on Jan. 1, Cauthon and 6,900 other Okla- homans will no longer be covered by the popular state-run program. Cauthon received the news two weeks ago in a letter telling her that income guidelines for the program had changed and she no longer qualified. As part of a deal between the state and federal governments to extend Insure Oklahoma for one year, state officials agreed to reduce income eligibility from 200 percent of the federal poverty level to 100 percent. “I am just frustrated because I had affordable health-care cover- age through Insure Oklahoma,” New income guidelines mean many don’t qualify TULSAWORLD.COM Do you qualify? Read past stories and find resourc- es, including a link to a calcula- tor to find out if you qualify for subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. tulsaworld.com/ healthcarelaw SEE INSURE A5 ‘I am not trying to say who is to blame. I am saying there was a system in place that was working for individuals such as myself.’ MELODY CAUTHON, single mother of three children The body language says it all Saturday as University of Oklahoma fan Trenton Kellog (left) reacts next to Texas fan Meghan Miller at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Unranked Texas snapped a three-game losing streak and stunned OU 36-20 before 92,500 fans. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World For more Read coverage of the game, including John E. Hoover’s column. B11 OU-TEXAS: STUNNED State school spending last in region BY KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer State aid to public schools in Okla- homa has fallen by more than $200 million since the 2008-09 school year, according to a report prepared by the chief financial officers of Jenks, Tulsa and Union school districts. “This creates a very discouraging picture of how little public education is funded in Oklahoma,” said Trish Williams, chief financial officer at Tulsa Public Schools. “State appropri- ations have most impeded our ability to provide educational services.” Oklahoma public education fund- ing has languished well below re- gional and national averages for at least a decade. And Oklahoma has the dubious distinction of spending 22.8 percent less per student than it did in 2008, the highest percentage of any state in the nation, according to a na- tional report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “We were already one of the worst per-student funded states in the na- tion in 2008 and we decided to cut it the most,” said Debra Jacoby, chief financial officer for Union Public Schools. The report’s data is based on infor- mation from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Edu- cation Statistics and examines com- mon education funding in Oklahoma, as well as the three districts. It also compares Oklahoma regionally and nationally. Williams said legislators and the public often point out that Oklahoma has a lower cost of living, so compari- sons with other states aren’t relevant. “That does not justify nor explain $12,000 $10,000 $8,000 $6,000 United States Regional average Oklahoma 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2010 2011 2008 2009 FISCAL YEAR Per pupil expenditures for public education National, regional and state averages for elementary and secondary education, 2002 to 2011 DAVID HOUSH/Tulsa World Source: U.S,. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Note: Per-pupil expenditures include all sources, such as bond issues, property taxes, state aid, and other local and county funds. SEE CUTS A5 • Oklahoma spends $7,631 per child, while Texas spends $8,685 and Kansas spends $9,802. FRUSTRATED Trish Williams: “This creates a very discouraging picture ... State appropria- tions have most im- peded our ability to provide educational services.” Certification continues for offending cops BY SHAUN HITTLE Oklahoma Watch In July 2010, a former Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office deputy pleaded no contest to a charge of com- mitting lewd acts with a child when he still was an officer two years earlier. Shawn Theo Thomsen, then 43, was given a five-year suspended sentence, court records show. Now living in Texas, he’s required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Despite the crime, Thomsen is still certified as a peace officer by the Council on Law Enforcement and Education, a state agency that certifies Oklahoma law of- ficers. State law requires that the council take away certification for an officer who pleads guilty or no contest to a felony charge, removing him or her from law enforcement. Thomsen’s case highlights how a lack of communication between prosecutors and the agency that certifies officers has allowed Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit organization that produces in-depth and investigative journalism on important public- policy issues facing the state. For more, visit oklahomawatch.org. SEE WATCH A4
