Maybe Andy Griffith on TV’s Mayberry said it best. “You can change the name of a rose but you can’t do anything about the smell.”
Members of the Oklahoma State House apparently don’t think they’re getting enough credit for funding education. They voted this week in support of a bill that opponents called a “slight of hand” and a waste of time, transferring education money into a newly-created fund but resulting in no changes for education.
House Bill 1846, by Rep.Kevin Wallace, R-Wellston, admitted during questioning on the floor his bill creating the Gross Production Support for Education Fund was designed to give public credit to lawmakers.
It simply would move education money now going from gross production to “off the top” into the new fund.
“We’re simply taking money that we normally would have on the top and moving it a new created name, yet our students are not gonna benefit anymore,” argued Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa. “This appears to be a slight of the hand. It appears to be a shell game. It appears to be a slight of the pen if not slight of the hand.”
Rep. Shane Stone, D-OKC agreed.
“This doesn’t do a thing for a student in your district. This doesn’t do a thing for a teacher. This doesn’t do a thing for a parent in your district or an administrator. What it does is something for us. It allows us to pat ourselves on the back and act like we’re doing something for education.”
Still, others disagree and approved the bill on a 64-29 vote and sent it to the Senate.
Listen to opposition debate.