Update and play-by-play call of the Super Bowl of Legislative Sessions: The Budget Balancers kicked-off to the Fitin' Corporatists on Monday at 1:30 PM. The Corporatists scored quickly by introducing two school consolidation bills, HB 1065x and SB 9x. According to the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration (CCOSA) House Bill 1065x by Representative Bobby Cleveland (C-Norman) and Rep. Jon Echols (C-OKC) requires the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to present a list of every public school district with daily membership of less than 1000 students to the State Board of Education to consider administrative consolidation or annexation of school districts. Districts designated for consolidation must submit a plan by January 1, 2020.
Like all school consolidation bills, HB 1065x will not save money nor put more money in the class-room or raise teacher salaries. It has been introduced by two corporate (not conservative) lawmakers in Cleveland and Echols who have accepted dark support and corporate money to further the corporate charter and private school agenda. If HB 1065x makes it to the full House, look for all Corporate Representatives to vote for it. I think it would be wise for all public school supporters to know if your Republican Representative is a Corporatist... or a Conservative. My own House District 42 Rep. Tim Downing is a documented Corporatist, so will support the bill, no question. His constituent school districts with less than 1000 students include Elmore City-Pernell, Maysville, Paoli, Whitebead, and Wynnewood in Garvin County, and Dibble and Wayne in McClain County. These are the districts which would likely be forced to consolidate or annex should HB 1065x become Law, with the full support of the House District 42 Rep...
Senate Bill 9x by Senator Stephanie Bice (C-OKC) forces administrative services of school districts with an ADM of less than 200 students be consolidated with a contiguous school district by July 1, 2020. Like all other small school consolidation bills, SB 9x will not save money. There are currently about 90 public school districts in Oklahoma with less than 200 students. Many have less administrative costs than much larger districts, and offer a better education to students than many larger districts. All schools with less than 200 students are located in Senate and House districts with many other schools with more than 200 students. (Bear in mind that corporate charter schools with less than 200 students will probably be exempted from consolidation). The primary question for Corporate Senators and Corporate Reps. in deciding whether or not to vote for this consolidation bill, is "Can I get re-elected if I vote for school consolidation?" It's always self-preservation for a Corporate Lawmaker. If most constituents of these Corporatists do not support the one or two "small" public schools in his or her district, then the Corporatists will vote for SB 9x. They will be banking on, literally, that most public school constituents in their respective districts do not care about the schools with less than 200 students. My local District 43 Senator Paul Scott is still questionable as to whether or not he's a Corporatist. On one hand he claims to support our public schools and has not received the dark money support or corporate campaign donations most Corporatists have. Unfortunately, Senator Scott voted for a school voucher bill during the last regular session, so evidence exists that he's a devout Corporatist. Also, Paul Scott has no school districts with less than 200 students, so has no self-preservation reason to oppose SB 9x. We must continue to educate Oklahomans about Corporate Legislators and their school consolidation plans...
Although not a school consolidation bill, House Bill 1002x has nonetheless been introduced to do harm to our local public schools. HB 1002x by Rep. Kevin Calvey (C-Norman) "requires state aid provided to school districts be reduced... (as if cutting appropriations weren't enough), ok, here's the math part that most Legislators can't understand - by a percentage by which the district's ratio of non-teacher staff is less than 18.3% of pupils per non-teacher staff. The measure requires those funds be deposited into a Teacher Pay Enhancement Fund (TPEF) or "Lock Box" (I think we've all heard about lock boxes - the place where dark money is kept for Corporate Lawmakers) with the purpose of providing a teacher pay raise with these re-distributed monies. This Bill is designed to confuse the voting public into believing that Corporate Lawmakers really do want teachers to get a raise, at the expense of non-teachers. If passed into Law, what HB 1002x actually means is this: Schools will reduce what's left of counselors, cafeteria workers, school nurses, librarians, bus drivers, custodians and maintenance workers, teaching assistants, and many more non-teachers (remember coaches are teachers) to comply with the Law. Unfortunately, it will have a devastating effect on students and public schools in general, but it's what they do. Corporatists intend to devastate public schools, so it may pass.
Update: The Corporatists have jumped to an early 21 - 0 lead at the end of the first quarter by introducing at least three public school killing bills - HB 1065x, SOB, I mean SB 9x, and SB 1002x. The Budget Balancers are fighting back, however, so Head Coach Charley McCall of the Fitin' Corporatists has called a time-out to try to thwart the Balancers' momentum - Oklahoma Special Session on Hold...
A re-cap of play before Coach Charlie (C) called timeout, reveals that (C) Lawmakers spent a total 28 minutes over three days taking roll and blocking for corporate interests - and charged Oklahoma tax-payers $90,000 to do so. This total cost amounted to $3214 per minute, or $23 per minute for each Legislator! Pretty high price to pay Lawmakers for doing nothing...
By all accounts the second half of the Special Budget Balancing Session will start on Monday. The Corporatist Lawmakers are currently leading, but the Budget Balancers have made half-time adjustments and many believe they will win, in the end. They claim there will be tax increases for corporations (3 touchdowns if you're keeping score) which will be enough to propel the Budget Balancers to victory. The Corporatists of course claim they will thwart any offensive effort to "end tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations" and preserve victory. Many public school supporters believe the Corporatists may indeed salvage a score, by passing a school consolidation bill. Incorporating public schools has been a goal of corporations for some time now, but public school supporters have avoided this anonymous salvo - up until this session. We'll see what happens...By the way, you can read my opinion of school consolidation at mybackpagewithjimbeckhamblog.blogspot.com...
Update: Not so fast! - Corporatist co-captains McCall (C) and Echols (C) believe there is very little chance the Legislature will re-convene on Monday due to the Corporatists not having time to re-adjust to the Budget Balancers' momentum. They evidently haven't had time to figure out how to thwart the budget balancing efforts to restore fair taxation on corporations and the wealthy (those earning over $200,000 annual salary). Many Corporate Legislators are "going broke" for lack of a paycheck to do nothing, however, so many believe they will re-convene on Monday, have roll-call, draw their $30,000 ($215 each), and then adjourn until further corporate notice...
Update: Lawmakers will presumably start earning a paycheck, again, on October 23. State Senators and Representatives will probably kick-off the second half of the great budgeting game (debate) on Monday, October 23, as many Corporatists are in dire need of a pay-check.
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