September 27, 2010
Pryor Daily Times
Susan Wagoner, Staff Reporter
PRYOR — State Rep. Ben Sherrer spoke to Rotary members Friday at the Pryor Methodist Church. Sherrer broke down the upcoming state questions, providing a brief synopsis of each.
Sporting an unusually high number of questions, the state ballot has 11 questions to be voted on in the November election.
Sherrer began his comments by showing a sample ballot.
“These are the state questions,” he said. “In a word count, it’s four times longer than the Bill of Rights.”
“You know, Oklahoma has the longest constitution of any state in the United States,” Sherrer said. “And we’ve found a way to make it a bit longer.”
He began with SQ 744. According to the Oklahoma State Election Board, the question repeals one section of the Oklahoma Constitution that “required the Legislature annually to spend $42.00 for each common school student.”
“It also adds a new article that will change the way we fund public education,” Sherrer said. The measure “sets a minimum average amount the State must annually spend on common schools,” according to the Election Board. “It requires the state to spend annually, no less than the average amount spent on each student by the surrounding states.”
Sherrer said right now in Oklahoma, the state typically funds education, including common (k-12), higher and career tech.
“It accounts for around 52 percent of the budget,” he said. “This year’s budget is around $7 billion. That means 4.2 or 4.3 billion of the total budget is going to education.”
Sherrer said having the numbers determined by outside states is “a risky budgetary harpoon.
“Over half of the state budget would be dictated by what’s going on in other states,” he said. “Now, that might be a relief for some of you, when you consider that half the budget would be decided by someone other than your state legislators.” FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Mon, September 27, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski