I found this headline and many like it on Facebook recently and was appalled and alarmed.
Superintendent announces midyear cuts to Oklahoma schools
It prompted me to share it with this comment,
I wonder if some elected, irresponsible official(s) bled the schools dry to give someone or something massive tax breaks. I honestly don’t know. Anyone wanna explain why this is happening?
And a Republican friend of mine did just that. He wrote:
1. Gross Production Taxes–The legislature had the option to allow the ridiculously low 1% tax on gross production from horizontal drilling to expire. It would have then reverted to its normal 7% tax. Instead, the O&G companies said there would be massive lay-offs and no production in Oklahoma, so instead of compromising at something like 4% (which was the rumored target before “negotiations” started), they lowered ALL gross production taxes to 2%. This hut every school because gross production is a chargeable. So the schools that got less revenue suffered and then were due more state aid and the other schools suffered because the factor for foundation aid was reduced.
2. The recent income tax reductions–over the last several years, the state has lowered income taxes more than once. Most recently JUST 7 days ago. While I am generally against taxes, in this case the real result is that average Oklahomans will see a savings of $30-$90 over the course of a year and all state agencies will see further cuts. Since the largest cost for state government is common education, guess who will suffer the most? They keep telling you that they held education harmless last year and are trying to do so now. Not true on the first count. They manipulated the way funds were sent to districts, lowered the gross production tax (which hurt all schools), and counted the supplemental monies for the increase in health insurance. In the long run, schools actually received less money last year from state sources even though they called it a flat budget.
3. One little known issue has to do with the Ad Valorem Reimbursement Fund. This fund was formed to attract manufacturing to Oklahoma. IF it had been applied lawfully, it could have been fine. It worked thus: 1% of income tax revenues were to be placed in a fund. The STATE could offer up to a 5 year tax credit (no local ad valorem taxes) to a MANUFACTURER that produced at least 50 permanent jobs. A couple of years ago, suddenly Wind Energy Turbines were allowed to claim this credit. It means the Company receiving the credit does not pay their property taxes. The state is obligated to REIMBURSE the schools, counties, and hospitals for the lost tax revenue. When the Wind Turbines came online, the obligations on the fund began to exceed the monies available. This means the legislature has to appropriate extra money to cover the reimbursement. They generally do this last and schools get their money in the last week of the current fiscal year (which reimburses them for money they should have received 6 months earlier). The estimate for NEEDED supplemental appropriations this year is around $60,000,000. The district I serve will be owed between $8M and $9M from the reimbursement fund. According to our attorney, the legislature is constitutionally obligated to pay us. However, if they pay us late or just decide to default on their obligation, we will be in serious trouble.
There are other things I could discuss, but suffice it to say that the extremists on the right are hell-bent on ending public education. (And this is coming from a registered Republican.)
I do not like where this is headed. Education has already been cut to the bone. How will our schools survive this?
Import complicated 
Most of my early education was in various small towns in Texas (oil field brat). When we were transferred from Texas to Oklahoma in 1970 (10th grade for me), course work was so unchallenging I graduated as a junior. I hope things have improved. Having taught science in middle school for a few years in late 80’s and early 90’s I saw little ,if any improvement. In the 70’s and for quite sometime afterward, Oklahoma was very much a state run by democrats . Not sure political leadership has changed the quality of public education, regardless of who’s in charge.
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I disagree with the statement “extremists on the right are hell bent on destroying education”! What a moronic statement. Education is a top priority! However, it is liberalized professors that are writing the curriculum books and hence education has turned into a joke of teaching PC crap, environmental issues, and community organization. And I have a child in college and one in high school, so yes, I do know what I am talking about! My college kid had a professor at OU who would be lecturing and would all of a sudden say “Rebublicans are stupid”, or “Republicans are all idiots.” And so on. Was a history class on Native Americans.
We have a deficit also because we have a bust in oil and gas production in Oklahoma. We have people being laid off left and right, businesses shutting down! The revenues previously gotten not just from production but from these men and women taking their pay checks and spending them in stores and restaurants has virtually come to a stand still. I also know firsthand about this as my husband lost his oil and gas job in December. I have a small business downtown and I hear of people loosing their jobs that have nothing to do with the oilfield! My community is an oilfield community and many are starting to feel the depression. And yes, I said depression! So to blame this on Republicans is a joke! My assumption would be your friend is a Rhino Republican whose political leaning tends to be more democratic. We had major statewide cutbacks in 2003. I was a resident teacher and lost my job. The State Education Superintendent was Mary Fallin, a Democrat. This isn’t political. Both party’s spend money unwisely. Why? Because they are like kids with $20 burning a hole in their back pocket. Except it isn’t their $20. And when bad times hit, there is nothing to fall back on. And it isn’t just Oklahoma’s problem either.
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With all due respect, it’s hard to take your rebuttal seriously because you don’t seem to know what you’re taking about. I’ve lived in Oklahoma all of my life, and Mary Fallin has never been Sate Superintendent. She’s our current Republican governor. Perhaps you’re trying to recall Janet Baressi? She’s our past (Republican) State Superintendent, but both ladies have led the way in destroying public education.
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Sorry, was thinking Brad Henry (Dem) who was governor still in 2003 when the cuts were made. Fallin replaced him. But it was under a Dems watch. I do apologize I have been sick since last night and brain was not quite functioning this morning. I was born and raised here in OK so I do know what I am talking about (just have to have my brain functioning without a migraine). But to be honest, our state’s education system can only do so much when the Feds regulate their crap-common core- being an excellent example.
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2003 — State Superintendent was Sandy Garrett, not Mary Fallin.
Ironically, also in 2003, Governor Brad Henry helped lead the passage of Class II gaming at the Indian Casinos AND passage of the lottery to fund the state and education, respectfully.
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Boy do you need to get your facts straight! First, Mary Fallin has never been Superintendent of Education! And second, she is a republican!
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Actually, Oklahoma repealed the Common Core standard in 2014. And they could do that because it was a state program, not a federal one.
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Over the past 45 or so years, the education system in Oklahoma (and most other states) has been asked or forced to introduce material into their curriculum that has strayed far afield from the fundamentals that served us well for many, many years. Schools now have classes where students spend class time on activities that used to be extracurricular and usually paid for by the students and families who voluntarily participated. In addition to the reduced funding available to the schools, they now have to cover many expenses that were never intended and should be provided by other sources.
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I am a 19 year teacher and a Republican. The state leaders have created a perfect storm of their own doing. The income tax cut creates a $160 million hole in our budget, and could have been postponed until revenues pick back up. The state sales tax revenue decrease show s the ecomy is not as good as Washington is saying. The crime is the sweetheart deal with the oil and gas companies. The 50% reduction in tax rate, along with the 75% drop in oil prices, is a disaster in the making. I expect to have late paychecks before school is out. I make $15,000 less than I could in Arkansas, and $12,500 less than Texas. Unbelievable.
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If we really wanted to help education, we would eliminate funding for school sports. (Shocking I know.) I worked for almost 20 years in the State Auditors Office and the Office of State Finance (now OMES). In that time I realized half, HALF, of our funding for state common education goes to sports. I don’t think that’s what schools are suppose to be about and no other country in the world finance youth sports through their schools. I understand that youth sports is important, but should the taxpayer be funding it?
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