What's Wrong with Oklahoma State Question 744? Part II

Friday, I wrote about what is wrong with a YES vote on Oklahoma State Question 744 based on the ballot title.  I promised to make another post about the measure itself, and that I am doing (a little later than I promised, my apologies).  In case you haven't figured it out yet, I like to research measures before they pass, while bypassing the media and special interest interpretations.

It actually took a while to find a reliable source of the text, mostly because I have never searched for petitions before.  I eventually found Initiative Petition No. 391 at the Secretary of State's website (and uploaded a copy here).  It sure is hard to copy and paste from a scanned document, though.

Let's start, though, with the "gist" of the petition, as the petitioners presented it to those who signed it.

This measure adds a new Article to the Oklahoma Constitution. The Article concerns the amount of money the State provides to support common schools, pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The Article requires the State each year to provide an amount of money per pupil that is at least equal to the average of the amounts spent per pupil by the states surrounding Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. If the average of the amounts spent per pupil by the surrounding states decreases for any year, the State must provide the same amount of money per pupil as the previous year. The amount spent per pupil means the amount spent for the day-to-day operations of schools and school districts, including instruction, support services, and non-instruction services, but not including building projects or debt. The Article requires annual reports on education spending and school performance. Common schools must be funded in this manner within three years.

Okay.  So that is what the People were signing to, or at least the gist of it, right?  We'll see.

The Legislature shall designate and provide funds for the support of common schools, pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, to provide for an annual State Per Pupil Expenditure in an amount that is at least equal to the average of the annual per pupil expenditures of the surrounding states...

This paragraph (B) is what most Oklahomans with something occupying that space between their ears should read and understand.  This paragraph turns over the power of determining proper appropriations of your state tax dollars to education to the legislatures of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico.  Do you understand that?  Your elected officials will not have a say in how much the State of Oklahoma pays for education.

This also means that if the legislatures of the surrounding states determine that their increases in education funding had little to no effect and decide to cut their funding, Oklahoma will never have the option to cut their education appropriations.  In order to legally obtain that option again, we would once again need a vote of the people because State Question 744 is amending the State Constitution rather than just enacting a new law.

For the purposes of this Article, "expenditure," when used in the phrase "per pupil expenditure," shall mean the expenditures for the day-to-day operations of schools and school districts, including instruction, support services, and non-instruction services, but not including capital outlays or debt services expenditures.

 

Paragraph C tells us that this increase in funding can be used in any way that the school's administrators desire, and not necessarily on your students or teachers.  Advocates for State Question 744 are trying to lead you to believe otherwise.  So here it is, spelled out in plain English for you.

While I do not believe that our education system should be controlled by the state or federal government, but rather on the local level, I also believe that Oklahoma's elected officials should have the power to determine the appropriation of state tax receipts.  Unfortunately, proponents of State Question 744 seem to think otherwise.  A vote for SQ744 will remove the power of determining education funding for Oklahoma from the Oklahoma Legislature and put it in the hands of other states.  Furthermore, a vote for SQ744 will remove your power of determining education funding by way of the ballot box and put it in the hands of the voters of other states.