Quote Originally Posted by Midtowner View Post
The most obvious answer here--and the most responsible answer here is to undo the gift to the oil and gas companies last year and hike the gross production tax up to 7% or higher. We don't need to incentivize oil and gas companies to drill. They will do so regardless of incentive. We also need to pay a higher income tax. Oklahomans at the top of the income brackets could stand to pay a little more so that we can build an education infrastructure to serve all Oklahomans. This talk of hacking and slashing our way to a "21st century" concept is all fun, but the problem is simple here--money. If you want better teachers, you have to pay better teachers. Our administrators are also very underpaid compared to surrounding states. Our higher ed faculties are also not nearly as well compensated as they would be in other states. If we want a great education system, money talks, BS walks.
I don't necessarily agree with everything you say, but in general, yes. To fix education funding, we have to do one or both of two things. Increase revenues, or decrease costs. Education represents the majority of our state budget as it is. It's only going to be fixed by probably a combination of those two plans. More money is great, but also increase efficiency and cut costs at the same time. How we increase revenue is where politics come in. Some will say by new businesses and economic growth, and other will say by new taxes. Regardless of revenue streams, we do need to make sure the money is being spend efficiently.