James Coburn
EDMOND — The goal of those who have been promoting the Helping Oklahoma Public Education (HOPE) petition has been to try to make sure that Oklahoma adequately invests in the education of its children, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins said. However, Oklahoma’s revenue stream was in better shape in August 2008, when the Oklahoman Education Association filed the petition process, Askins told The Edmond Sun.
“From conversations I’ve had with some of the individuals that signed the HOPE petition, they’ve said if they’d had a crystal ball and had been able to look down the road to see what was happening in the economy — not just here in Oklahoma but nationwide — their timing for this might have been a whole lot different,” said Askins, who is a 2010 gubernatorial candidate.
State Question 744 would repeal a section of the state Constitution. The HOPE petition would require the state to meet the regional per pupil average for spending in public schools.
Oklahoma’s region is comprised of New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Texas. Oklahoma legislators allocate $7,615 per student in comparison to the average regional per-pupil expenditure of $9,078, said Doug Folks, OEA spokesperson.
The Legislature went in session last year facing nearly a $650 million shortfall, mostly due to falling oil and gas prices, said David Blatt, director of policy at the Oklahoma Policy Institute. The $210 million in revenue collected during July and August is 23.8 percent or about $200 million less than what had been estimated. This amounts to 18 percent below appropriations.
A House study found that funding the HOPE initiative would require a 40 percent tax increase or a 20 percent hit across the board of every state agency, said state Rep. Randy McDaniel, R-Edmond. An $850 million increase in spending would be required to fulfill the unfunded mandate, McDaniel said.
The state’s economy has grown an average of 5.2 percent a year during the past 25 years, said Becky Felts, OEA president.
“The numbers are what they are,” Felts said. “Oklahoma’s revenue grows, on average, 5.2 percent a year. SQ 744 will improve an underfunded education system so that a well-educated workforce can attract more higher-paying jobs. Better educated workers employed at higher-paying jobs will actually contribute to the growth of Oklahoma’s revenue.”
Felts said that SQ 744 represents a chance for Oklahoma to make education a true priority. The Legislature will have three years to implement the improved funding if voters approve the measure, she said. That would mean an additional $1.5 billion in revenue by the time SQ 744 is fully implemented, Felts said. So there would be no need to raise taxes or cut other state agencies, she said.
“They’re assuming zero percent inflation in the cost of providing the other services that government provides, which is ludicrous because there is a very high inflationary cost in health care, in double digits every year,” said state Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond. “There’s inflationary cost in roads and bridge construction.”
State lawmakers must be conservative during tough economic times with state budget revenue shortfalls, said Rep. Leslie Osborn, R-Mustang.
“It just doesn’t seem to me that in the best of times we would generate over a billion dollars over a three-year period,” Osborn said.
Common education comprises about 36 percent of the state budget, McDaniel said. An additional $850 million needed to fund the HOPE initiative would dedicate 49 percent of state revenue to common education, he added.
“We would be taking a significant risk to assume that growth revenues could do it,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel said the passage of SQ 744 would not allow school funding to decrease even if the regional per pupil average would decrease.
Ninety percent of appropriations go to the 10 largest core state agencies in areas of education, health care, human services and transportation. Most state agencies had their budgets frozen, received 5 percent cuts or had minor increases, Blatt said.
“Revenues right now are down nearly 30 percent,” McDaniel said. “So in bad economies if you stay flat or go up, then (common education) is getting a bigger percentage. And in the good times it is inappropriate to think there would not be inflationary forces that increase cost.”
There are only two ways to pay for SQ 744 if it passes, said Peter Rudy, communications director for Oklahomans for a Responsible Government. Income taxes would have to be increased by 34 percent or sales taxes would need to go up by 38 percent, Rudy said.
“If you look at the 22 percent cut that every state agency would have to take to pay for this if we don’t put taxes in … it’s just to me a fiscal disaster,” Osborn said. “It’s a catastrophe to the state.”
SQ 744 offers no requirements for performance, achievement, transparency, efficiency and accountability to ensure taxpayers would receive a benefit for what they would pay, McDaniel said.
“I don’t think it solves problems to throw money at an issue,” McDaniel said.
State Question 744 will appear on the ballot for consideration on Nov. 2, 2010.
jcoburn@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 114
