State Senate Beats ‘Fund Education First’ Deadline

Senate Republican Leader Glenn Coffee praised a bipartisan effort in the State Senate to pass funding for Oklahoma’s public schools – beating a March 16 deadline for the Legislature to send the “common education” budget bill to the governor.

“Funding education first and early during the legislative session ensures that education is not used as a political football in the budget process,” said Coffee, R-Oklahoma City.

“Today’s vote shows what can be accomplished when Democrats and Republicans work together to find common ground,” Coffee said of today’s bipartisan agreement in the Senate on Senate Bill 217, which provides for a $144.7 million increase in funding for common education next year.

Republicans proposed the “Fund Education First” deadline as part of the part of the 2003 state budget negotiations to ensure that public education – the highest priority in the state budget – is never held hostage in budget negotiations.

State law requires that the budget bill for public schools be presented to the governor by the Legislature at least 25 days before schools districts’ deadlines for negotiating teacher contracts.