Guest: Oklahoma is No. 6 in childhood hunger. It seems Stitt wants to keep us in Top 10
Do you remember his excitement when Gov. Kevin Stitt announced the private school tax credit? At that time, no one, including the governor himself, had a clue on how that would be administered. Even when many questioned the “estimate” of $1 million for administration costs, Stitt and most Republicans ignored it.
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Have you noticed how many are silent on the mere $3 million of additional costs? And, as expected, there is no proof that this plan will help many, if any, lower income parents send their children to private school. The majority of the money is going to those already in private school. AND if that isn’t enough, many legislators seem surprised (really????) that so many private school parents want to claim the “tax credits,” and certainly they will want to consider adding more money to the program.
Do you see the contradiction in Stitt refusing to accept the federal funds to give food benefits during the summer to children from low income families because “he wasn’t sure how the plan would be administered.” He had no problem whatsoever in not knowing how the plan would be administered for giving parents financially able to send their child to private school $5,000 to $7,500 per child. But Stitt has a major concern, enough to reject the program and federal money, for giving a measly $40 per month for just three months to make sure a child has food to eat during the summer. Do you see the hypocrisy in his actions?
More: Opting out of federal summer food program bad decision for Oklahoma children, readers say
His comment that the nonprofits will “fill the gap” only holds true in urban areas that have those programs. What about all the rural areas without such programs? IF the governor cared enough to search for the truth and take advice from those familiar with childhood hunger in Oklahoma, he would realize that there are 400,000 children in Oklahoma facing childhood hunger. This is just another example of a continuing growing list of Stitt making ill-informed decisions that negatively impact the people of Oklahoma.
When being told that her French subjects had no bread, Marie Antoinette replied, “Let them eat cake.” Stitt’s decision and remarks certainly seem to display the same callous attitude and failure to understand the struggles of Oklahomans that are not in his millionaire status.
Oklahoma is No. 6 in childhood hunger. And it certainly seems that Stitt will stop at nothing to keep us in that “top 10” category.
Janis Blevins is an Oklahoma City resident.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Gov. Stitt's decision to opt out of summer food program ill-informed
