OKLAHOMA CITY — With a little more than two weeks left in the legislative session, Republican leaders in the Oklahoma House and Senate remain at loggerheads over an education plan touted by some as a major step forward and criticized by others an expensive example of political grandstanding.
The debate became so contentious last week that the Legislature conscripted former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor to mediate. The three-way argument continues to stall the legislative progress, creating what one media outlet described as “Oklahoma’s least functional efforts at self-governance in recent memory.”
Still, Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat (R-Oklahoma City), House Speaker Charles McCall (R-Atoka) and Governor Kevin Stitt all say they remain optimistic that the issue can be resolved.
Though the rhetoric has been harsh, some progress has been made.
By mid-week last week, the House and Senate had roughed out a plan that included $286 million in funds for teacher pay increases and $214 million into the state education funding formula.
Schools with larger percentages of disadvantaged students would be eligible for addition funds as would many rural schools. The proposal would also pump in addition funds for school transportation.
However, a proposed grant program – offered in lieu of the House’s proposed student fund – was shot down when many lawmakers pushed back against the idea that the grants in the program would be administered by Ryan Walters, the state’s school superintendent.
Walters continues to generate negative headlines, referring to the Oklahoma Education Association as a “terrorist organization” and including harsh political criticism in a recent speech to the state FFA leaders.
Controversy surrounding Walters escalated last week after the state’s two largest newspapers published a story which said Walters lied to legislative leaders about education department grant funding during a recent public hearing.
Terri Grissom, who was director of grant development at the Oklahoma State Department of Education since 2017, told the newspapers that Walters “spoke many untruths about the status of grants” at the state Department of Education.
“He said, ‘We have applied for millions and millions of grants since I took office.’ We have not applied for one single grant. That was a blatant lie,” Grissom told reporters from Tulsa World. “When legislators said, ‘We want a list of those,’ he gave them a list of everything I did under (former Superintendent Joy Hofmeister’s) leadership. Nothing was new.”
Concerns over Walters’ rhetoric and rural funding have added an additional layer of tension in what were already difficult negotiations.
McCall and House leaders have pulled back from the idea to create an Oklahoma Student Fund. Separate from the state school funding formula, the OSF would allocate a certain amount of money per student for each school — the goal being to equalize funding for rural school district.
The program has a cap that prevents any single school district from receiving more than $2 million. At the same time, Treat and his Senate leadership team agreed to reduce the amount for teacher pay increases.
Stitt, speaking at a weekly press availability, said the group had developed a framework, adding that “the Speaker and the Pro Tempore have their education chairs kind of fine-tuning and getting the last little details.”
At the same time, the governor continues to push for some type of tax cut. He said the state had $6.2 billion in savings and $1.2 billion in excess revenue over expenses.
“We need to get this across the finish line,” the governor said.
Treat told media representatives on Thursday that negotiations would be easier if they were done in public. He also praised Taylor’s assistance, saying the former justice was tremendously helpful to all sides.
Both houses of the Legislature will be under increased pressure to finalize a deal this week. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the First Session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature must adjourn by 5 p.m. Friday, May 26.