‘One Oklahoma Coalition’ Announces Opposition to SQ 744

Yesterday, numerous business, city, state, and political leaders participated in a joint news conference to announce their united opposition to SQ 744, the proposed public education funding mandate state question, which the Oklahoma Education Association and its allies successfully placed on Oklahoma's upcoming November general election ballot via the initiative petition process. The leaders described themselves as the One Oklahoma Coalition.

If SQ 744 is approved by voters, state legislators will be required perpetually by a state Constitutional Amendment to fund public education in Oklahoma at a level equal to the regional average of other states. The current projected cost to taxpayers to do so would be an additional estimated $850 million to $930 million annually, said One Oklahoma Coalition spokesperson Jeff Wilson. Those opposed to SQ 744 say such a legal requirement would be devastating to Oklahoma's state budget, especially in the current depressed economy.

Currently, Oklahoma taxpayers spend 41% of all annual legislative appropriations on common K-12 education. The state lottery provides additional funding for common and higher education, but SQ 744 proponents say the lottery is not a dependable source of new revenue for schools -- something the Oklahoma Family Policy Council warned about in 2004, prior to voters' approval of the state lottery and the tribal gaming compact.

You can read CapitolBeatOK editor Patrick B. McGuigan's account of yesterday's news conference by clicking here.

To read the views of the OEA and other proponents of SQ 744, click here.

Note: Proponents say Oklahoma spends $8,006 per pupil on public education. However, a January, 2010, report by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, click here, placed the state's estimated per pupil expenditure at $10,257.