Rep. Mike Brown
In a partisan political age, a fundamental, ideological disagreement often dictates the terms of our debates. That disagreement concerns the proper size and scope of government; what government should do and what it should not do.
In Oklahoma in recent years, the debate has been mostly dominated by those who feel that the size and scope of the government, at both the state and federal levels, is too large, bloated by corruption and bureaucracy. On the contrary, Oklahoma agencies face further reductions as income tax cuts loom large on the horizon. The Republican agenda, despite the various inadequacies of state government, is to further cripple it. This agenda is wrong for Oklahomans.
Whether the discussion revolves around education, roads and bridges, the health of our state, or how we take care of our senior citizens, Oklahoma’s government lingers on the brink of a coma induced by massive budget cuts. Many politicians love to play a disingenuous rhetorical game by proclaiming that Oklahoma’s government is too large and incompetent one moment, then stating that the government is functioning “just fine” on the other, and therefore can tolerate further cuts.
One needs look no further than the state of Oklahoma’s public school system to see the evidence of the government’s starvation into inadequacy. Oklahoma’s schools ranked “far below average” in the 2011 Science and Engineering Readiness Index, which assesses schools’ aptitude in preparing students for careers that involve science and mathematics. According to the National Education Association, Oklahoma ranks 49th in the amount of dollars it spends per student. Class sizes in Oklahoma schools are swelling while education support staff is downsized and less dollars go to elective courses, textbooks and technology, and basic operational needs of the school.
Many of these failures, but not all, can be attributed to the policies of our egregiously unqualified Superintendent of Public Instruction, Janet Barresi. Last year, the Republican majority in the Legislature, followed by the Republican Governor, gave Barresi unprecedented powers over the State Board of Education. She used those powers to cut funding for reading sufficiency programs, professional development programs, and popular and effective programs such as Literacy First and the Street School in Tulsa that offered alternative classes and therapeutic counseling to students. In addition, she cut the stipend for National Board Certified teachers. Thankfully, through the efforts of many concerned legislators and outraged citizens, the stipend was provided for through a supplemental appropriation. Right now I am fighting to ensure that NBCT teachers keep their annual stipend in the years to come. However, we cannot expect the Republicans’ and Barresi’s battle against public education and teacher compensation to end there.
The school system is not the only program in which the effect of funding cuts is becoming more pronounced. Oklahoma ranks near the bottom in a number of important health indicators, such as number of deaths due to heart disease, yet this statistic remains ignored as Republican leadership has voiced no intentions to backfill the 20% cut in funding the Department of Health has sustained over the last three years. The Department of Corrections is constantly running at maximum capacity, and currently the ratio of inmates to officers is 160 to 1. Oklahoma continues to be counted as one of the worst states in the number of structurally deficient bridges. The “Child Maltreatment 2009 Report” states that Oklahoma has “the third worst rate in the nation…five times the acceptable national standard” for abused or neglected children under state care, yet we systematically underfund the needs of the Department of Human Services. As a result, DHS lacks the dollars necessary to employ more case workers in order to lessen unsustainable caseloads. However, as part of a settlement of a recent lawsuit, DHS was ordered to reduce its caseloads. The lawsuit alleged foster children were being abused and mistreated while in state’s custody, and is now requiring the hiring of more caseworkers to meet reasonable professional standards in order to reduce the number of deaths due to child abuse or neglect. Caseloads reported by DHS range from between 20 children and more than 30 children per worker, when accrediting body standards call for no more than 18 children per caseworker, or eight per caseworker in the case of special needs children. The settlement also created a three-person panel to oversee needed reforms. However, if we continue to starve DHS of resources, we will without a doubt face another lawsuit and worse, allow abuse or neglect to continue unchecked due to lack of appropriate and timely intervention.
With these issues in mind, I am reminded of Grover Norquist’s quip that he’s not in favor of abolishing the government, he merely wants to “shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” Yet shrinking government even more than it’s already been trimmed is tantamount to turning our backs on our commitment to protect individuals. In Norquist’s world, and those who follow his ideology, we eliminate or severely constrain the Department of Education, the Department of Health, of Human Services, of public safety. Meanwhile, the state continues to give subsidies to big oil and gas companies, which effectively pay negative tax rates. You can see the results in their huge Tower of Babel in downtown Oklahoma City, but what price did rural school districts pay for that luxury? Are jobs for these companies important than jobs for rural schoolteachers? I urge lawmakers and citizens alike to set the bar higher, to aspire to make Oklahoma a better place for its people, rather than a state that inhibits its government to the disservice of all.
This appears to be the product of a governmentally-funded education.
“Back in the day” if (1) more and more money + (2) more and more governmental intervention yielded more and more NEGATIVE results, a definitive conclusion would be understood –> This model of behavior does NOT work.
It is definitive from an honest evaluation of social, political, and economic history that throwing more money and government at any problem yields cry-babies, sloths, parasites, and very few positive results.
It is a shame that Rep. Brown has so little Bible knowledge that he would even find any correlation between the Devon Energy Center and the Tower of Babel. Another product of governmentally-funded education???
If anything, the last 20 years has shown us that throwing money at Ed has NOT improved our test scores. We need the right teachers and administrators doing the right job, not more of them. Close these rural schools that aren’t performing or that can be rolled into another district. Remove the excessive administration overhead as Oklahoma rates as one of the highest admin to students in the nation.
I’ve seen various technology dumps in my children’s school and they mostly have resulted in a waste of funds. Many teachers don’t know how to use, are unwilling to learn or it goes uninstalled for months.
Why should we support our teachers with stipends for getting more education? No one paid for me to get mine. A good teacher is going to be a good teacher! Make their pay based on the number of graduate and free them to be creative as are the magnate and alternative schools then you’ll see improvement. Forget the union and outlaw tenure. The public sector doesn’t have it, our schools don’t need it either.
Blaming Barresi for cleaning up the corruption Garrett fostered is just whining cause you don’t have your slush fund to run the show. Just like our president, give her four years and if things aren’t improving send her packing. Of course, Garret had decades and didn’t do much to improve things.
Oddly Mr Brown, there is always enough money (and school time) for unlimited sports activities in the public schools. Cut 50% of that sacred cow and I’ll be more open to my tax dollars continuing to fund a failed system.
Signed, Just Another Homeschooling Taxpayer