Education funding among issues discussed at forum

May 12—By Johnny McMahan

Managing Editor

A new education funding plan was put forth by the Oklahoma State Senate late Wednesday and Sen. Casey Murdock revealed some of the details at Friday's Eggs and Issues forum held at the Woodward County Event Center.

The plan, Murdock said, would offer 286 million for teacher pay raises from $3,000 to $6,000 depending on experience, a $100 million for Red Bud (rural schools) and $214 million additional into the school formula funding.

"It will be the largest infusion of cash into public education to date," Murdock said.

This is the latest in a series of negotiation that have been going on for a while.

House members Carl Newton and Mike Dobrinski said they have not seen the plan.

"The House has not got a look at this (yet)," Newton said. "I do like the numbers he's quoting. This would be a 17 to 19 percent increase over last year, the greatest increase we've had. I think it would be good for public education."

Any new education funding will apparently have to be paired with the governor's prized tax credits (around $!50 million) for private schools and home schooling.

In answer to a question, Dobrinski said there is a plan to make provisions for schools not part of the funding formula to receive money for teacher raises so there isn't an unfunded mandate.

"Before I vote for anything, I want to make sure rural schools are going to get their fair share of the public money," he said.

Newton added, "None of us are excited about tax credits, but I think it's something we are going to have to swallow."

Legislators noted that nothing has been agreed to yet, but said the governor wants to get this done in the next two weeks and doesn't want a special session.

On some other issues, Dobrinski said the Terry Peach North Canadian Watershed Act is getting close to passage. The bill will try and address the red cedar infestation in Oklahoma.

"All of the agriculture groups are supportive as well as the hunting associations," he said.

Newton said the governor signed his legislation allowing 14-year-olds who live on farms to drive back and forth to school or to work in agriculture activities.

"There are definite restrictions, but this a good thing that will help farmers," he said.

Murdock is working to update the state's 9-1-1 system and funding will come from raising the 9-1-1 fee on cell phones from 75 cents to $1.25.

"The money will go straight to the 9-1-1 system," he said. "This is something we had to do just for public safety."