Quotes of the Day

“The state budget approved by the Legislature in May and going into effect on Friday is inadequate. Core state services are underfunded and the result is that Oklahomans will be ill-educated, ill-treated and underserved.”

– Tulsa World Editorial Board (Source)

“We give away too many millions of dollars in tax credits to oil and gas companies. I have nieces and nephews, and I want them to be educated, too.”

– Greg Gatewood, a 50-year old architect who voted in Tulsa on Tuesday. Tuesday’s elections were broadly viewed as a referendum on public education in Oklahoma (Source). 

“I think maybe the public is waking up to some of the important issues. But I think we all struggle with cynicism thinking it’s too big to fix, and it can be hard to get out (the vote) in a primary race.”

– Andy Moore, organizer of the grassroots group Let’s Fix This, which has been advocating for state funding reform (Source)

“Those of us that think ‘It doesn’t matter to me because my children are grown, so what do I care if the child-care industry collapses?’ need to understand the full impact of this decision. These cuts will effect job performance of those who do have young children that are working next to us or providing services we rely on daily. This includes hospital staff, food service industry, education and manufacturing, just to name a few. … Child-care programs will close, early-childhood professionals will become unemployed, families will not be able to find child care, children will not have appropriate early-learning opportunities and so will not be ready for kindergarten, and the cycle will just continue.”

-Karen Smith, executive director of the Child Care Resource Center in Tulsa, about the effect of Oklahoma no longer providing child care subsidies to any new families due to state budget cuts (Source)

“People got to rely on the automobile, and civil engineers kept working on that direction,. It was their inspiration to see how fast we can get out of downtown and onto the highways. We’ve built the city around the car, and now we have to build it around the people.”

-Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, speaking about the city’s efforts to slow to slow sprawl that is straining the city’s ability to maintain services (Source)

“I’ve done this way too many years, and I have a feeling we’re looking at more (state) revenue failures. We’re not out of the woods yet.”

– Claremore Public Schools Superintendent Mike McClaren, after the district cut 25 teaching positions in an effort to cut costs going into the next school year (Source)

“It is clear that we cannot continue to achieve excellence in the future without state financing playing a greater role. The state’s share of the cost of educating students at OU has fallen from 32 percent from 20 years ago to 12 percent today. The people of Oklahoma must decide if they are willing to invest in the education of the next generation. Education, not ignorance, is the pathway to a better future.”

-OU President David Boren (Source)

“I just got tired of watching our district the past few years have to cut, cut and cut some more, all while the Legislature just continues to waffle on getting anything done. But I’m not a politician. I’m a teacher who is trying to learn to be a politician.”

-Mike Mason, a longtime science teacher and candidate for Senate District 47 (Source)

“Every year I hold a ‘win a trip’ contest to choose a university student to accompany me on a reporting trip to cover global poverty in places like Congo or Myanmar. This year we decided to journey as well to Tulsa, in the heartland of America, because the embarrassing truth is that welfare reform has resulted in a layer of destitution that echoes poverty in countries like Bangladesh.”

-New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (Source)

“The problem with tax cut triggers is that they only pull one way — down. When times are good and revenues are flush, they trigger a tax cut. But when hard times return, they don’t trigger a return to the previous rate.”

– The Oklahoman’s Editorial Board, arguing in favor of doing away with triggered tax cuts. One such cut to the top income tax rate could come into effect as soon as January 1, 2018, if not stopped (Source)