Fact Sheet on the OEA’s “HOPE” Initiative

OEA Claim: Oklahoma schools receive very little tax funding.

FACT: Nearly 50 cents out of every Oklahoma state tax dollar already goes to education. This year, total state, local and federal funding for public schools will exceed $4.15 billion and the National Education Association’s own figures show Oklahoma spends about $6,944 per student – that’s more than the cost of a year’s tuition at either OU or OSU.

OEA Claim: Other states dedicate more resources to education than Oklahoma does.

FACT: The National Science Board found that Oklahoma ranks 17th in the nation in public school expenditures as a share of gross state product, so Oklahomans actually devote a larger share of their available dollars to schools than most states.

OEA Claim: Other states in the region are outperforming Oklahoma due to alleged funding differences.

FACT: Oklahoma students achieved an average composite score of 20.7 on the 2007 ACT tests, outperforming students in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado and New Mexico, even though those states spent “more” per pupil (at least on paper).

In reality, Oklahoma schools are more efficient than schools in surrounding states. Contrary to the claims of the OEA, Oklahoma is a model for other states, not the other way around.

OEA Claim: Oklahoma taxpayers are “currently providing enough resources” to pay for an $850 million increase without any problem.

FACT: The OEA’s plan would create the largest unfunded mandate in Oklahoma history. Again, nearly 50 cents out of every Oklahoma tax dollar already goes to education. To take an additional $850 million from other agencies would require drastic cuts.

The state could eliminate all road funding and still not come close to meeting the OEA’s demands.

Or the state could free all violent criminals and close every prison and still not come close to freeing up enough money for the OEA.

Or the state could eliminate all programs helping abused children and battered women and still not generate the money the OEA wants.

In fact, the state could eliminate road funding and the budgets for the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Conservation Commission, Department of Consumer Credit, Corporation Commission, Department of Environmental Quality, Insurance Commissioner, Department of Labor, Department of Tourism, Water Resources Board, Office of the Attorney General, Department of Public Safety, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Supreme Court combined, and it would still not free up enough money to meet the OEA’s demands.

OEA Claim: The HOPE initiative will not mandate a tax increase.

FACT: When a court order forced Arkansas to implement its version of the HOPE initiative, the Arkansas Legislature was forced to pass a $400 million tax increase in February 2004.

In Oklahoma, it would take a 46 cents per gallon increase in gasoline taxes or similar measure to generate the $850 million demanded by the OEA.

OEA Claim: The HOPE initiative will not force school consolidation.

FACT: Arkansas’s rural Democrat-dominated Legislature was forced to eliminate 57 school districts when implementing their version of the HOPE initiative to dramatically increase school funding. During that process, every school with fewer than 350 students was on the chopping block. There are between 200 and 250 districts that size in Oklahoma.

Arkansas’ version of the HOPE imitative led to higher taxes and fewer local schools and they still lag behind Oklahoma on student performance. It is bizarre, to say the least, that the OEA now champions the Arkansas model for Oklahoma.