OKLAHOMA CITY - Calling the $750 million dollar lease-back road program fiscally unsound, State Senator Dave Herbert today unveiled an alternative funding proposal.

"I'd be among the first to agree that Oklahoma would benefit tremendously from additional infrastructure development. But a lease-back scheme between the Turnpike Authority and the Transportation Department is not the way to go.

"We're going to make a bunch of bond-dealers rich, and risk having to cut programs like education, or turn free-roads into toll-roads," said Herbert, D-Midwest City.

Saying Governor Keating should pay more than "lip service" to higher education, a Senate budget leader is urging Governor to increase his executive budget for the state college system to closer match the plan proposed by the Oklahoma Senate.

Governor Keating spoke to college backers at Higher Education Day at the State Capitol today.

A Weekly Update on all of the Good News about Oklahoma

Because much of the good news about our state is sometimes overlooked by state leaders and others, many positive developments and success stories in Oklahoma go unreported. It is our hope that "Oklahoma Pride," a weekly publication of the Oklahoma Senate, will ensure that the best stories about Oklahoma are told.

For example, this week in Oklahoma, did you know that......

A Weekly Update on all of the Good News about Oklahoma

Because much of the good news about our state is sometimes overlooked by state leaders and others, many positive developments and success stories in Oklahoma go unreported. It is our hope that "Oklahoma Pride," a weekly publication of the Oklahoma Senate, will ensure that the best stories about Oklahoma are told.

For example, this week in Oklahoma, did you know that......

"I know Governor Keating has good intentions, but I'm afraid his version of 4 x 4 would add just one more rule, one more layer of unnecessary bureaucracy to our public schools. Every local school board in Oklahoma already has the power to implement 4 years of math, science and social studies on their own, just as El Reno has done. I don't see why we need another dictate from the state level, ordering local school boards to do something that may not be right for every single student, parent and teacher in Oklahoma.

A Weekly Update on all of the Good News about Oklahoma

Because much of the good news about our state is sometimes overlooked by state leaders and others, many positive developments and success stories in Oklahoma go unreported. It is our hope that "Oklahoma Pride," a weekly publication of the Oklahoma Senate, will ensure that the best stories about Oklahoma are told.

For example, this week in Oklahoma, did you know that......

A Weekly Update on all of the Good News about Oklahoma

Because much of the good news about our state is sometimes overlooked by state leaders and others, many positive developments and success stories in Oklahoma go unreported. It is our hope that "Oklahoma Pride," a weekly publication of the Oklahoma Senate, will ensure that the best stories about Oklahoma are told.

For example, this week in Oklahoma, did you know that......

Members of North America's Superhighway Coalition will meet with lawmakers and Coalition officials in Tulsa later this week as they prepare for the 1997 legislative sessions, both in Oklahoma and Washington D.C.

The Coalition was formed in 1994 to work for the designation of I-35 as a High Priority Corridor and make the states through which it runs eligible for a share of federal funding set aside under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.

Threatens Economic Development Efforts

Even though Governor Keating's attitude toward higher education has evolved from its original budget cut mentality, he still isn't providing colleges and universities with the resources they need to help attract high-tech industries and high-paying jobs, according to a Senate budget leader.

"Governor Keating has come a long way on higher education, but unfortunately for Oklahoma, he hasn't come far enough," said Senator Cal Hobson, vice-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Restores Veto Funding with Budget Increases

In an apparent effort to correct his veto mistakes of last year, Governor Keating is restoring vetoed funding to a number of agencies in his fiscal year 1998 executive budget. However, instead of restoring the vetoed funding through the traditional supplemental appropriation method, Keating is attempting to conceal the corrective measure by lumping the money in the agency's overall budget for the next fiscal year.