Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/tag/state-budget/)
Gov. Kevin Stitt used his first State of the State address to call for an additional pay raise for teachers, a more modernized state government and greater control over state agency leaders’ employment.
What was absent, however, might be as important as what was included.
Lawmakers are on their way to passing the largest state budget in Oklahoma history. But that doesn’t mean state agencies have recovered from years of cost-cutting.
This timeline looks at events leading up to the teacher walkout, the high points of Oklahoma Watch’s coverage and the galvanizing effect the work stoppage had on Oklahoma’s teachers and teachers nationwide.
The state’s largest education association called on teachers Thursday to return to their classrooms after concluding that further attempts to convince lawmakers to find more money for public education would be futile.
Lawmakers will likely return to the State Capitol sooner than expected after Gov. Mary Fallin’s shocking veto of most of a budget bill approved by the Legislature only hours earlier. GOP leaders condemned the veto; Fallin’s office hasn’t fired back.
A new budget plan approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday would cut millions of dollars from dozens of state agencies and use one-time savings to bridge the state’s $215 million budget gap. It is expected to be heard in the Senate later this week. Read this agency-by-agency breakdown to see who’s cut how much.
An Oklahoma Watch analysis of more than 3,000 horizontal wells shows that more than half of a typical well’s projected lifetime oil and gas production will occur during its first three years, when it is taxed at a much lower rate.
Oklahoma Watch will host a public forum on Tuesday, May 23, in Oklahoma City on how the state’s budget challenges could affect the well-being of children.