Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – State Budget

I’m Sam Jones.  You already know that Oklahoma’s budget crisis is getting worse.  What you may not know is, what is not being done about it.  Supposedly folks at the State Capitol are cutting back with hiring freezes.  But as I told you a few weeks ago, they left some wiggle room on that.  Hardest hit so far have  been Public Schools.  Some in the Legislature would like to do away with public education, preferring to convert  to another system,… charter or  voucher schools systems for example.   State Chamber leaders have repeatedly lobbied for more state support for public schools but their calls are falling on deaf ears.  The Chamber understands if you want to have more businesses move their operations to Oklahoma, you must have rock solid educational institutions as part of the attraction package.  We aren’t being  told how many companies have turned away from Oklahoma because of the Legislature’s lack of support for education, but someone has to know how many have looked at our state and said No!

Now, in an act of desperation, the State School Superintendent is asking for over $56 million dollars in the form of an emergency funding request.  Why?  Simple,… school systems have already cut their budgets to the bone.  Now it appears the legislature is saying they need to make more major cuts for this year alone.  Who knows what little surprises they are going to mandate for next year.  Who suffers?  Of course we all do.  But the real losers are going to be the children.  And who will catch flack when little Johnny’s classroom is overcrowded and the school week is cut to 4-days?  The teachers.  Lawmakers will point their crooked little fingers at those running the schools and the classrooms and say, “Its your fault.  You should be able to work with what we give you”.    And that’s the way its going to be until schools are forced to cut transportation, the arts and finally,… here it comes,… athletics.

The mentality is going to work like this:   “ Its o.k. to cut the arts and transportation.  The youngens can learn to paint at home.  And their folks can bring them to school and pick them up, or they can walk.  Ats what I did and I did just fine.  I made it all the way to the Legislature and I been cutting taxes like crazy. We wuz paying too much taxes.  But you can’t seriously be  thinking bout cutting football.  Why, that ain’t American.”

Really?  That’s all you got?

Folks, we got trouble,…right here in river city and nothing is being done to fix the problem.

Will Rogers once said, “A man only learns by two things, one is reading and the other is association with smarter people.”

Well, it could be, the time has come for folks in Oklahoma to start associating with smarter people,… and then getting them to run for office.

That’s my perspective.