BusinessWeek.com
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 30, 2010, 10:37AM ET
By TIM TALLEY
OKLAHOMA CITY
Oklahoma's road and bridge program would be financially crippled if voters approve an education funding proposal that would force the state to spend an extra $850 million on public schools over a three-year period, members of a transportation coalition said Monday.
Coalition members including Neal McCaleb, former state secretary of transportation, said education groups are promoting the initiative petition known as Helping Oklahoma Public Education in spite of a dramatic downturn in state revenue that will give lawmakers $1.2 billion less to appropriate next year.
"It's the wrong thing at the wrong time," said McCaleb, president of the coalition known as Transportation Revenues Used Strictly for Transportation. "It reminds me of how grim things were and how grim they could be again."
The coalition urged lawmakers to preserve spending for roads and bridges at existing levels while calling for defeat of the HOPE petition, also known as State Question 744. The petition is supported by the Oklahoma Education Association, the state's largest teacher organization... FULL ARTICLE
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Tue, March 30, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski