Teachers union wants to mandate state school spending
Tulsa World
By WAYNE GREENE Editorial Writer
Published: 1/24/2010 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 1/24/2010 4:03 AM
The Oklahoma Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, is pushing a plan to vastly increase the amount of money the state spends on public schools, and presumably the amount spent on teacher salaries.
State Question 744, which will go before voters sometime this year, would mandate that Oklahoma spend at least as much money (on a per-student basis) on public schools as the surrounding states do on average.
Right now we're in last place in the category, so the change would mean a big shift of money to the education budget.
According to the OEA, Oklahoma spends $7,615 per student, which is $1,463 less than the regional average. (Among our neighbors, Arkansas leads the way, spending $9,591 per student.)
That works out to about $850 million in new money every year for schools, if the measure passes...
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Sun, January 24, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski