State Budget Proposal Includes Tax Cuts, Historic Education Funding khits.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from khits.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hamilton: Sine Die looms as lawmakers map plans for future By: Arnold Hamilton Guest Columnist May 13, 2021
Arnold Hamilton
Even before the pandemic short-circuited last year’s session, Republican statehouse leaders made it an annual point of pride to wrap up their work before the constitutionally mandated last-Friday-in-May deadline.
It didn’t really matter whether they’d accomplished much beyond the bare essentials of budgeting. The point was to draw a contrast from a century of Democratic management that routinely used every last second.
Will sine die come early this year?
Well, legislative leaders appear to have cleared one significant hurdle, broadly agreeing on the FY ’22 state budget. But it’s never wise to assume everything’s a done deal until it’s a done deal.
Hamilton: Education ‘reforms’ more smoke and mirrors By: Arnold Hamilton Guest Columnist April 1, 2021
Arnold Hamilton
A “monumental” and “historic” day ushering in “solid” and “smart” reforms in Oklahoma’s public education system.
That’s what Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate President Greg Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall are selling with their revamping of the school funding formula and loosening of restrictions on student transfers.
Allow me to cut through the Grade A bull waste: House Bill 2078 and Senate Bill 783 do nothing to improve Oklahoma’s grossly underfunded and unequal public schools.
No new taxpayer-funded investment. No new initiatives to keep the best and brightest teachers in classrooms. No strategies to give students in Hollis and Heavener access to the same education as Edmond and Broken Arrow.
Hamilton: Our initiative petition process in legislative crosshairs journalrecord.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from journalrecord.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.