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Quotes of the Day
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“Oklahoma cannot save its way to prosperity. If ever the truth of the cliché about it taking money to make money were evident, it is now in Oklahoma. The no-tax monomania is proving to be as deadly for the state as was Ahab’s obsession as the sick, the elderly, the children and the poor of our state continue to suffer the consequences.”
– The Journal Record Editorial Board (Source)
“We must still deal with the immediate problem of the loss of $215 million from the earlier high court ruling that struck down the proposed smoking cessation fee. The $215 million represents just state funds, but with the loss of matching federal funds, state agencies estimate the total is nearly $500 million.”
– Governor Mary Fallin, reacting to the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to uphold the elimination of a sales tax exemption for motor vehicle sales (Source)
“We cannot continue to decrease funding for higher education and expect to meet the needs of tomorrow’s Oklahoma. With the damage being done to our colleges and universities, Oklahoma is on a course that will further divide us into the haves and have-nots.”
– Oklahoma A&M Regents member Lou Watkins (Source). Oklahoma has cut per pupil higher education funding by more than one-third since the Great Recession (Source)
“My constituents want us to fix the budget. This is dramatically different than the doorstep messages from 2012. I was first elected during the height of the tea party movement. Constituents then were concerned about gun rights and social issues. Now, I am hearing loud and clear that education funding, tax reform and budget transparency are the topics on many people’s minds.”
– Oklahoma State Sen. AJ Griffin (Source)
“Obviously I was grateful and excited. But on the other hand, I was like: I went to school for all these years, I have these degrees, and I qualify for a program like this?”
– Tiona Bowman, a middle-school English teacher in Tulsa with three years of experience and a master’s degree, speaking about a Habitat for Humanity program that she qualified for due to her $34,000 salary (Source)
“I don’t like it, but what’s our option? We’ve got to have someone in our classrooms.”
– Goodwell Public Schools Board member Roger Edenborough, on news that Oklahoma has approved more than 1,400 emergency teaching certifications so far this year, well above last year’s total of 1,160 (Source)
“We’re robbing our children of the very people who can help ensure they enter adulthood well prepared for college and the workplace. We can’t continue to let students bear the burden of adult inaction. Putting a great teacher in every classroom is the very least we can do for children, but we’re falling spectacularly short of fulfilling even that most basic obligation.”
– OSSBA Executive Director Shawn Hime, commenting on his organization’s survey that showed 536 teaching vacancies to start the school year despite the addition of 1,430 emergency-certified teachers districts and 480 eliminated teaching positions since last year (Source)
“We are starting to say that our kids can’t take anymore. We certainly need to fund all of the kids in Oklahoma and we need to provide the best education we can.”
-Oklahoma City Public Schools Board Chair Paula Lewis, explaining the board’s decision to file a lawsuit against the state legislature for failing to adequately fund schools (Source)
“I think the fundamental question that people are going to have to ask themselves, and specifically sitting members of the legislature – but the citizens too – is what type of state do we want to have? And are we going to invest in the things that are going to make our state better, more competitive, and be able to provide for the most vulnerable among us?”
– Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger talking about the need to modernize Oklahoma’s tax code and broaden our tax base (Source)
