Guardrails on State Testing Waiver

By David Arnett

Tulsa, OK — The NorthStar Project has filed formal public comments on the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s request for a waiver from federal peer review of statewide assessments. While affirming the Department’s intent to modernize testing and reduce burdens on schools, the NorthStar Project warns that the proposal—if adopted as written—risks eroding accountability, transparency, and fairness across Oklahoma’s 500+ school districts.

“Oklahoma cannot afford to weaken accountability at the very moment when student outcomes are at historic lows,” said Dr. Mark Roberts, Chairman of the NorthStar Project. “Our students deserve both innovation and rigor. That requires statewide comparability, constitutional compliance, and clear transparency for parents.”

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OK’s $32M Settlement With CVS Caremark

By David Arnett

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced yesterday a more than $32 million settlement with CVS Caremark over money from Oklahoma’s state employee health plan. 

CVS Caremark is a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) that manages prescription drug benefits for health plans, including HealthChoice which is Oklahoma’s state employee plan. When drug companies give discounts and rebates for medications, CVS Caremark was supposed to pass that money on to HealthChoice. Instead, the state contends that CVS kept millions of dollars that should have gone to help lower healthcare costs for state employees from January 2020 through December 2024. CVS maintained that it complied with its contractual obligations. 

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Tulsa County Opioid Settlement Funding

By David Arnett

The Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) announced Monday they have awarded more than $4.5 million in opioid settlement funds to local organizations working to prevent addiction, expand treatment and recovery options, and strengthen behavioral health supports across the community.

The organizations funded include:

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra Returns

By David Arnett

The multi-platinum rock group Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) returns to Tulsa with their highly anticipated 2025 Winter Tour. This year, the rock powerhouse will bring their legendary holiday show, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve: The Best of TSO & More, to life with a special production,  featuring a second set of hits and fan favorites, including a 25th-anniversary salute to Beethoven’s Last Night.

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The CPA Gap: Not Learning Government

By Judi Willard

Despite the critical role state, local, and federal governments play in managing trillions of taxpayer dollars, most accounting students graduate without ever learning how public finances are actually reported.

While private companies follow accounting rules set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), governments operate under entirely different frameworks—GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) for state and local governments, and FASAB (Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board) for federal agencies. These rules govern everything from pension reporting to how a “balanced budget” is defined. And yet, in most college and university accounting programs, they’re barely mentioned.

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