BY SCOTT MEACHAM Oklahoman, NewsOK
Published: October 3, 2010
There has been a lot of discussion about the merits of State Question 744. I must confess my bias. I am unabashedly for education and education funding. I have spent the last eight years fighting (successfully) to increase funding for education in Oklahoma, to increase teacher pay and to improve the overall quality of our education system. The last two years, I have fought to protect education from the steep cuts that other state agencies have had to endure.
Although I am for education, I am against SQ 744.
SQ 744, if enacted, will cause devastating harm to our state. Over a billion new dollars will have to be appropriated by the Legislature to common education. That sounds good until you consider where the Legislature will have to go to get the money. It will not raise taxes. The voters defeated the last tax increase proposal in Oklahoma by a huge margin. Oklahomans don't like taxes. That means the money will have to come from the rest of the budget.
Supporters of SQ 744 tell us the Legislature can easily come up with the $1 billion-plus in new money for common education through growth revenue or cuts to noncore state spending. What they don't reveal is that their growth revenue projections are based upon the 2004-07 period when Oklahoma's revenues grew at the fastest rate in our state's history as oil and gas prices hit record highs and the national economy was booming... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sun, October 3, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski