OKLAHOMA CITY – Improving the state’s literacy rate for young school students, examining and possibly changing the state’s personal property tax system and finding ways to better protect the oil and gas industry were all ‘top of the mind’ issues state legislative leaders spoke about at the Oklahoma Press Association’s annual legislative forum.
Republican and Democratic leaders in both the Oklahoma House and Senate spoke to OPA members and answered questions last Thursday at the state Capitol.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, a Republican from Bristow, spoke first. He talked about the importance of literacy and his goal to improve early childhood education. Hilbert and many other Republican lawmakers have increased the discussion about state education outcomes since the resignation of former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters.
“Reading and early childhood literacy is the top of the agenda for me,” Hilbert said. “I think it’s something very important to everyone in this room.”
Being able to read, the speaker said, was critical for the country.
“For me it’s funny, because every single event that I’m asked to go to, or every single question that I’m asked, whether its economic development, tourism-related, you name it, I talk about reading because it applies to everything.”
Hilbert said he recently attended an event at the Oklahoma History Center. He said he talked about reading because of a simple question: “How can the public remember what it means to be an American and talk about the founding of this nation and our history of 250 years and what we want to be for the next 250 years, if our students can’t read or if our adults can’t read?”
Along with education, Hilbert said he wanted examine issues around the state’s property tax system.
“I think we’re talking about property tax globally,” he said, speaking about a letter he had recently received from oil industry executives. “Everything that was in that letter, I think, is a good point of conversation. And I appreciate them sending it and contributing to this conversation on the future of Oklahoma.”
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson said her caucus was focused on legislation to help everyday people. Those issues included changes to the education system, addressing the high cost of living and tax policy.
Munson, a Democrat from Oklahoma City, said Democrats in the House have almost 30 bills that have made it through the committee process. And while she acknowledged the legislative process in the House could be difficult, she said she felt the end product was better when it reached the House floor “This legislative session, we really wanted to focus on everyday needs of everyday people,” Munson said. “And what we are hearing from folks all across the state, in our own districts, and as we hear from people in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, but also in rural areas, is that affordability is really the number one thing that people want us focused on. It’s clear that in Oklahoma, so many people are working multiple jobs to make ends meet on necessities like rent and groceries and gas and utilities.”
Home insurance, she said, is also a big issue that many Oklahomans are facing. “We wanted to answer that call,” she said. “So, our guiding star is making sure that Oklahomans’ paychecks can keep up.”
Echoing Hilbert, Munson said her caucus also wanted to see improvements in the state’s educational system. She said before the session, members of her caucus set out expectations for education and literacy.
“There were a few things that we elevated that we felt were really important as we have these conversations,” Munson said. “So, before session started or right when it started, we did share what our plan was around education. We said, and like I mentioned earlier, anything that we require on our teachers and on our school districts needs to have the adequate funding in order to make sure that teachers can do what it is that we’re asking of them.”
Munson said retaining students or putting them through summer school without the resources they need and the space to do the things that they need “isn’t actually going to get our students there.”
She said efforts to improve literacy should start well before the third grade. “We need to look at kindergarten and first grade to make sure that the students are ready to perform well in third grade,” she said. “And so, where we’re being cautious and mindful is that we want to make sure that any plan that goes into place, that it can be maintained, that we’re not rushing it through just because we’ve been told now by the State Chamber and other business communities that they can’t recruit businesses.”
While the state Senate’s leader – Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton – agreed that the state’s educational system needed improvement, Paxton’s approach looked at different areas, such as the length and number of school days.
Paxton, a Republican from Tuttle, also spoke about economic development and the effort to keep the state’s oil and gas sector strong.
“My main question is this: Is there anything the State of Oklahoma could have done, or something we didn’t do that would have helped keep that (two oil companies announced they were moving their headquarters) from happening?” he said.
Paxton, who like Hilbert, received a letter from oil company executives, said the effort to keep the state’s oil and gas industry strong has to “go beyond just the tax rates.”
“There are multiple items in there, and there are things that I’m actually already working on, and I’ve told them,” he said.
Still, Paxton said both the House and Senate want the same thing – a stronger public educational system.
“There will be disagreements on what’s the right way to go forward, but I guarantee you we will find the dissolution that we can all agree on. The goal is the same. How do we make sure our kids are educated and ready for the workforce? How we get there? There may be some different roads to get there, but that’s what the legislative process is about,” he said.
Paxton said the House is working on some areas different than the Senate but he added that members of the Senate are going to be incredibly in agreement with a lot of what is being done in the House.
“The Senate’s going to be running some of the same type of things too, maybe with a little different variation to it. That’s what the process is about. Right now, we’re working on getting everything through the committees in our respective chambers,” Paxton said. “I think when we see what comes out of there, then you’ll start seeing everybody is working together to find out what the solution is.”
The Senate’s leader said the Governor’s office was also involved, along with legislative Democrats. “It’s not just Democrats or Republicans; it’s all of us,” he said. “You know, we’re all extremely vested in solving this problem. There are different ideas of how to get there, but that’s what the process is about.”
The forum’s fourth speaker, Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, said her caucus – like the House Democrats – was focused on issues to help everyday Oklahomans.
“Our big goals this year are around cost of living and trying to make sure that we’re actually addressing some of those key problems we’re hearing from people,” she said. “I’m talking about housing, property insurance, issues around childcare. We’re trying to make sure we’re looking truly at the rising costs and what we need to be doing as a state.”
Like Republicans, Kirt – a Democrat from Oklahoma City – said Senate Democrats were also focused on great education for every child.
“We did present our own package of bills to try to influence the conversation,” she said. “Of course, we’re glad to talk more about that, but we’re focused very much on what is a commitment for the long term. We cannot be working in oneyear increments when we’re talking about kids going into our schools.”
Kirt said lawmakers must make sure they make commitments for the long term and for those resources that are needed in classrooms. “And then our last area is really about people over politics,” she said. “So, we’re talking about corporate influence and corruption in office. So making sure our ethics systems, election systems, are as fair as possible.”
State lawmakers have until 5 p.m. on May 29th to write and pass and budget and finish their work on other laws and policies.