By Linda Murphy

How and why is the state expanding government control of childcare starting at birth in our “red” state? As we have all heard, “just follow the money.” The answer to this question involves money. It also involves people, with a lot of money, who seek and acquire unelected power to control public policies. These top-down social engineering plans come from the far left and have gained control over policies governing our childcare system.

This ideology is seen in Tulsa philanthropist, multi-billionaire George Kaiser’s interview in the 2016 New York Times article “The Man Turning Tulsa into Beta City, USA.” The Times reported: “Kaiser has turned Tulsa into ‘beta city,’ U.S.A., a testing ground for evidence-based social programs that aim to overhaul the way America handles issues related to inequality. They report that if Kaiser could change one structural aspect of the country, he said he’d eliminate the attitude that centralized control is inherently evil.”

Kaiser said in a “Success Driven” video that his motivation for philanthropy was largely guilt because he was born in an advanced society with loving parents that other children do not always get. He said he has focused on what he thought is the “purest form of charity” which is to give all children an equal opportunity at birth.

In 2017, the Christian Science Monitor published: “A Billionaire Wages War on Poverty in Oklahoma.” “In Tulsa, Okla., philanthropist George Kaiser is mounting one of the most ambitious efforts in the US to help the poor. If it seems as if Kaiser is everywhere in this former ‘oil capital of the world,’ helping and hugging people, it’s because he is. The deep-pocketed philanthropist is involved in preschools and elementary schools, industrial parks and recreational parks, artists’ lofts and folk-singer museums, parenting classes and prisoner rehabilitation programs. He has, in fact, turned Tulsa into perhaps the country’s most ambitious test bed for the power of philanthropy to tackle poverty at its roots.”

Ken Levit, Director of the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), in a 2011 Cox TV program, was asked what the Kaiser Foundation is doing in K-12 and Early Childhood education. He said they focus greatly on early childhood education. Their program is Educare, founded by Kaiser and it serves babies 6 weeks old to age 4-5 and their families. It is aimed at “breaking the cycle of poverty.” Levit said if the children get “3 years of this program they start kindergarten just like the middle-class kids.”

The work at Educare centers is done through the Community Action Project’s Head Start Programs. Educare parents receive training to get financial assistance. Levit said “Kaiser, the banker, the investor,” wants to have “the biggest bang for the buck ... the biggest return on investment.” That is as early as possible and 80%, the biggest brain development, happens by age 3. A lot of children are harmed by not being held and talked to, so Educare does this. Educare leads the country in these centers of early childhood education and in 4-year-old education in the public schools.

Levit went on to say, “It is expensive. It’s not cheap.” The Tulsa Schusterman Foundation and others also provide funding for Educare. Levit said “we hope down the line that the public sector does more.” That means they are seeking more tax dollars from middle- and upper-income families to pay for this social plan for equalizing the outcomes for the low socio-economic community. He said the Kaiser Foundation puts together a legislative agenda and talks to lawmakers at the state capitol every year.

Today in 2025, GKFF has a State Representative, Suzanne Schreiber (D-Tulsa), at the State Capitol, who also works for Kaiser’s foundation. She is a senior program officer for “special projects” for GKFF, according to their website. She was formerly on the Tulsa Public School Board from 2013-2022, during the time that Deborah Gist was Superintendent. Schreiber is from New Mexico where her mother was the Lieutenant Governor. She has a law degree from TU and B.S. degrees in Political Science and in Law and Society.

Scheiber as an elected State Representative has an on-going effort to further the agenda for GKFF. In September 2024 she held an Interim Study in the Oklahoma House Business and Commerce Committee entitled “Is Lack of Childcare an Impediment to Economic Growth & Sustainability for Oklahoma?”

Schreiber said she sees two main solutions for childcare, the first being the Legislature deciding how much state money will be dedicated to childcare in the budget. “How much are we going to spend on subsidies as a state? That is a budget conversation that we have to have as a state…”

A second solution, one Schreiber has proposed in a bill in the past, would incentivize more people to work as childcare providers by offering them free childcare. Of course, free to the parents is not free to the state taxpayers but an expansion of cost. Schreiber said “As a state, we need to own our piece in this system and understand how we can incentivize, grow and support this model. I think a very simple and affordable way is to incentivize that workforce by being able to offer them free childcare … we incentivize every other industry.” Schreiber intends to propose her legislation on the topic again. There is no doubt what “this model” is since she works for GKFF.

This model has been promoted by many on the left. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama have visited Kaiser’s Educare program in Tulsa and praised his work. Tulsa’s executive director of Educare was honored by President Obama in 2012 as a “Champion for Change.” The White House press release stated that she “started out in Washington, D.C. as a 2008-2009 Head Start Fellow, which was a life-changing experience.”

Kaiser signed the Bill Gates “giving pledge” with Warren Buffet and others pledging to give large portions of their wealth to invest in fixing social needs. Warren Buffett has given over $50 billion toward historic pledges to the Gates Foundation to invest in social programs including education. The Tulsa World in October 2011 reported on Warren Buffet’s significant involvement in Tulsa Educare. Buffet and other Giving Pledge donors met with George Kaiser at Tulsa’s Kendall-Whittier Educare Center to discuss topics that included early childhood education.

Philanthropists can and should be able to give their own money to programs and plans of their choice, but they are unelected and should never be given the power to create and or control government programs, plans or public policy.

The left has long sought to get tax funded “Universal Childcare” across the country. John Podesta is a committed far left Democrat who pushes this plan. He came to Washington in the Clinton administration and has been pushing the Biden Agenda to take 30% of all American land out of human use by 2030 (30 x 30 land grab). These top-down control social engineers are always putting their own spin on “science” and “data” to get support for their plans. The heavily marketed idea that there are “Childcare Deserts” has driven policies to expand this plan for government spending and control over the care of children. Some have promoted these ideas under the label of “Universal Childcare.” Conservatives have called this a Nanny State model and see it as another means to “redistribute the wealth.”

Oklahoma’s model of Childcare is now a heavily regulated system overseen by a Public-Private Partnership set up through the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (ODHS). This extensively regulated and state funded model actually competes with private childcare businesses and is choking the private sector out of existence. Hundreds of private providers have closed their doors and many more are on the brink of closing, unless our Oklahoma leaders put us on a track of freedom from the current plan.

Privately owned childcare centers are required to be evaluated by a ODHS approved outside accreditation agency. I have had reports that some of the “approved” accreditation agencies require private centers to have LGBTQ affirming and Diverse Family Unit story books on the shelves for the children. Decisions about curriculum and learning should be made by private owners and the parents, and should have full disclosure of the programs so they can find the provider of their choice and know what their child will be learning. There is not enough space here to include the extensive list of regulations and decisions that have been taken over by the state and through the ODHS Private-Public Partnership.

Over the last year, many Oklahomans and elected officials have realized the heavy investment that has been made by our state for political left green energy plans and are supporting a turn away from this ideology, which has been fueled by state subsidized spending. This same principle should be applied to early childhood education and childcare. Let’s work to support legislation focused on increasing incomes and decreasing government regulation. That is the way to more prosperity, not government subsidies!

Linda Murphy was Oklahoma Governor Keating’s Education Advisor, Deputy Commissioner of Labor for Workforce Education and Training, Administrator of the Eastern Oklahoma Department of Labor, Member of the State Job Training Coordinating Council, and the Governor’s School-to-Work Council. She was a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1994, 1998 and 2018. Murphy was appointed by Governor Keating as Secretary of Education but was denied confirmation by the majority Democrat Education Committee, following her 49.5% statewide vote in 1994. She also served on the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women. More recently, she has served as chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party’s Committee on Education. She is chairman of the OK Educators Network. You may contact Linda at: lindalearn1@yahoo.com