The latest campaign finance reports filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission make the education funding ballot question look like a showdown between a national teachers union and the Oklahoma business community.
NewsOK
BY MEGAN ROLLAND, Oklahoman
Published: October 21, 2010
The campaigns for and against a ballot measure requiring Oklahoma to boost education funding to a regional average spent $1.14 million for television ads, yard signs, mailings, websites, travel and more last month.
Yes on 744 — a coalition of proponents of the measure that would require Oklahoma spend at least the regional average on education per-student — has raised $3.87 million overall. A majority of the funding, $3.24 million, has come from the National Education Association, a labor union.
The ONE Oklahoma Coalition — a group opposed to State Question 744 because of the potential cost to other state agencies and services — has raised $1.29 million. A majority of the money has come from construction companies, hospitals, chamber of commerce organizations and banks.
SQ 744 would mandate Oklahoma spend the same per pupil in the prekindergarten through 12th-grade education system as the average spent in Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado and New Mexico.
Oklahoma ranked 49th in the nation for per-pupil spending in the 2007-08 school year, according to the most recent data released by the federal National Center for Education Statistics. To catch up to the regional average that year, the state would have had to spend an additional $830 million... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Thu, October 21, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski