Quotes of the Day

“That’s only part of the cut, which is approximately $1 million. There were also cuts to apportionment of $7.8 million, and some of the Tourism funds were swept, so to speak, at $7.5 million. Which is on top of approximately 26 percent cuts that have happened in the past several years.”

– Claudia Conner, deputy director of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation. Between a 5 percent budget cut, reductions to use and sales tax money set aside for tourism, and cuts to two revolving funds, her department is facing over $16 million in cuts this year. (Source)

“Could ACLU come in tomorrow and file a suit and suddenly we are in some kind of monitoring? Yes, that’s the business we are in.”

– Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton, speaking to The Oklahoman’s Editorial Board regarding overcrowding and low staff levels in the state’s prisons (Source)

“We took some major steps this year in addressing Oklahoma’s civic participation crisis. First, we recognized that we have a problem. Second, we passed some important reforms, including online registration and local election consolidation. Having said that, there is much more to do, and I will continue to push the issue. Improving voter turnout is going to be a long process, and the responsibility is by no means limited to policymakers. We all have to take ownership.”

-Sen. David Holt, R-Oklahoma City, who sponsored nine measures to improve voter turnout and participation in Oklahoma, two of which were approved (source).

“I don’t recall something like this ever happening before. Because of the way the law was written, it’s truly unenforceable.”

-Tulsa Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Trish Williams, speaking about a new state law that bans school districts from deducting Oklahoma Education Association dues for teachers and other school employees. A law firm representing more than 300 of the state’s public school districts said numerous flaws in the law make it unenforceable (Source).

“Triage is defined in medical terms as determining the priority of patients’ treatments based on the severity of their condition when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately. Triage is common to the battlefield, accidents, or natural disasters. But in Oklahoma, that’s how people now get treatment for mental illness or substance abuse.”

-OETA reporter Bob Sands, in a report showing 1 in 3 of the Oklahomans in need of mental health or substance abuse treatment are going without care due to a chronic lack of funding (Source)

“We cannot provide all the services that we have been accustomed to providing. We are operating on a model from the ’80s and funding from the ’80s levels. We’re down to four full-time employees. I would have never thought that I would see that when I went to work in 1983.”

– Ed Fite, administrator for the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission, whose budget was cut by one-quarter, to $270,000, in the most recent legislative session.   (Source)

“Low market prices for crude oil and natural gas spilled over into the broader economy as energy companies curbed their spending during the month. On balance, gross receipts were more than six percent lower than this time last year. Though the news is not positive this month, our hope is that we’ll soon see improvement as prices rebound.”

– State Treasurer Ken Miller, discussing state tax collections for May (Source)

“It is very complicated to score. We are able to look at samples and in one example, a student scored advanced with only three or four words in a sentence and very choppy, simple writing, versus a student who was scored unsatisfactory but used complex sentences and great vocabulary words in well-written answers. For that reason, we can’t release those results to students and parents.”

-Broken Arrow Assistant Superintendent Janet Dunlop, speaking about why Oklahoma will for the second year in a row throw out the results of writing tests taken by 97,000 fifth- and eighth-graders (Source)

“I bring home about $2,000 take home a month. I made $12 a month too much to go on food stamps. That’s with a bachelor’s degree.”

-Tulsa 4th grade teacher Stephanie Anderson, who said she is considering becoming one of the hundreds of Oklahoma teachers leaving the profession due to low pay (Source)

“When I went to those schools, I do remember that my grades were really low. I was failing all the time. How do you expect to keep up your grades going to nine schools during your freshman year?”

-Aliah Morales, a sophomore in Tulsa Public Schools who has already spent a fifth of her life homeless. The number of homeless students in Oklahoma schools has shot up from 17,539 in the 2011-2012 school year to 25,114 in 2013-2014 (Source).