Weekly Opinion Editorial
NEW STATE AGENCY NOT
NEEDED!
by Steve
Fair
Last week, the Oklahoma
legislature passed and Governor Stitt signed HB 2765 which appropriated $8.1
billion to state agencies and placed $200 million in savings. The $8.3 billion dollar budget included $157 million for common education(K-12 public
schools), with a raise for public school teachers of $1,200 and money earmarked
for school district to hire more classroom teachers. State employees got a raise as well (up to
$1,300 annually), and $1.7 million was appropriated to create a new state
agency called the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), which is to
be a bipartisan committee that would conduct performance audits on state
agencies.
First, this is the largest
Oklahoma state government budget in history.
The first year Republicans took over the legislature (2006), the state
budget was $5.95 billion. In just thirteen
years, the state budget has increased +28.3%,slightly more than the rate of
inflation. Republicans gained control of
the legislature by promising to reduce government’s footprint, but the fact is
the rate of spending is no different than the Democrats. Tax revenue is at an all-time high- under
Republican control. Sir Winston
Churchill said a government that tries to tax itself into prosperity is like a
man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. It’s
like a poor person trying to spend their way to wealth. It will not work.
Second, why do we need
another state agency to conduct performance audits on state agencies? Isn’t that the job of the Oklahoma State
Auditor and Inspector’s office? Instead
of funding the constitutionally created Auditor’s office to conduct performance
audits, the legislature creates an agency that will report directly to
them? This doesn’t make sense- or maybe
it does. If the issue is about
accountability, creating a new state agency is hypocritical. No one is more accountable than an elected
official and the elected official in Oklahoma who is charged with auditing is
the State Auditor’s office, not the legislature. Audits shouldn’t be political and controlled
by politicians. Performance audits should
be done on every entity that gets a dime of state tax dollars and it should be
done by someone accountable to Oklahoma taxpayers- the State Auditor and
Inspector.
Third, expect Oklahoma public
school student test scores to significantly improve in the coming years. With the investment and commitment Oklahoma taxpayers
are making in common education, public schools are under pressure to
perform. For years, common education leaders
have said if Oklahoma classroom teachers were paid at the regional average,
student test scores would improve to the regional average. The investment has been made- now it’s time for
education to deliver results.
The legislature adjourned on
Friday Sine Die (Latin meaning no set day to return), a week before the law
prescribes they had to adjourn. Many
observers gave the legislature and the newly elected governor high marks for
getting done early and agreeing on a budget.
But spending more money because you have more money because you passed
historic tax increases last year isn’t the way to turn around Oklahoma- it’s a
way to continue down the same path.
