Education
Brandon Dutcher | August 31, 2009
Another voice for choice
Brandon Dutcher
KXII, the CBS affiliate in southern Oklahoma, reported last week that "many Oklahoma students say they're unprepared for college," a claim which seemed to find vindication a few days later when the Tulsa World reported that "more than a third of first-time college freshmen in Oklahoma needed some type of remedial course work last year." Though those two articles are troubling, a piece in the Edmond Sun is encouraging: University of Central Oklahoma economist Mickey Hepner makes "the case for educational choice scholarships." Dr. Hepner isn't what you'd call a movement conservative -- indeed, he strongly supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election -- but like other Obama fans (state Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, for example, and state Rep. Jabar Shumate) he recognizes that school choice is a matter of fairness.
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.