The 1889 Institute is a non-partisan research and education organization focused on public policy analysis and development in Oklahoma. The 1889 Institute promotes free enterprise and limited government by making public policy recommendations on issues like education, healthcare, “economic liberty,” and state finances. [1]
The 1889 Institute is a project of the TEL Foundation,[2] an Oklahoma-based non-profit which develops public policies primarily focused on education. [3] The 1889 Institute is an associate member of the State Policy Network. [4]
Activity
The 1889 Institute is a non-partisan research and education organization focused on public policy analysis and development in Oklahoma that promotes free enterprise and limited government. [5]
The 1889 Institute makes public policy recommendations on issues like education, healthcare, “economic liberty,” and state finance. As of late 2020, the Institute was advocating for educational choice, lower costs for college, repealing Certificates of Need (CON) for hospitals in Oklahoma, and stopping the expansion of Medicaid. The Institute also provides research illustrating high tax and spending metrics in Oklahoma compared with other states and advocates for a more transparent state budget. [6]
Funding
1889 Institute receives donations through its parent organization, the TEL Foundation. [7] The Charles Koch Foundation gave grants to the 1889 Institute in 2016 and 2014. [8]
People
Byron Schlomach is the director of the 1889 Institute and a scholar-in-residence at the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University. Schlomach is a former director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute and a former chief economist for the Texas Public Policy Foundation. [9]
Benjamin Lepak is a legal fellow at the 1889 Institute and a scholar-in-residence at the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University. Lepak formerly served as chief of the civil division for an Oklahoma district attorney. [10]
Senior fellow Vance Fried is the president of the TEL Foundation, the director of the Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute. [11]
Research fellow Michael Davis formerly served as a law clerk with the Nevada Policy Research Center and the Institute for Justice. Davis is an alumnus of the Liberty at Work program at the Charles Koch Institute. [12]
Brad Galbraith is a land use fellow at the 1889 Institute. Galbraith formerly served as the regional advocacy director of ExcelinEd, as a policy advisor for former governor Susana Martinez (R-NM) and as a law clerk at the Goldwater Institute. [13]