Oklahoma Educators/Legislators Split On How To Use Stimulus Dollars

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Oklahoma Governor Henry and legislative leaders agree on a plan to tackle the state's $1 billion budget shortfall.

They plan to cut state agency money by 10 percent for the rest of the fiscal year which ends June 30th.

Officials will also use reserve dollars from the Rainy Day Fund and the state stimulus account to help balance the budget.

Some say that plan for bridging the budget gap will just dig the state into a deeper hole for next year and some educators are raising red flags.

Schools have clamored for the state's help.

Now, lawmakers say they want to use rainy day and stimulus money to protect key priorities, like education but school leaders are saying not so fast.

In 37 years of educating, Alan Drover has seen his fair share of budget ups and downs.

"Clearly it is getting bad. It's getting difficult for everyone in every phase of the economy," said Drover, a teacher at Edison.

Tulsa Public Schools has slashed costs, furloughed workers and still needs to cut another $1.5 million dollars.

Superintendent Keith Ballard says the district has three options: a third round of furloughs that would include teachers, a one-percent across the board salary cut, or shutting down all spending, unless it's absolutely necessary.

"I think it is likely that any one of those three would happen in order for us to capture $1.5 million dollars, yes," Ballard said.

According to Ballard these budget cuts would have ballooned to a full-fledged crisis without an infusion of federal funds, "The stimulus money equated to about 300 jobs in TPS this year."

Ballard says eleven million federal stimulus dollars kept TPS from laying off employees in the middle of the year.

"It just would have been catastrophic. I mean the stimulus money absolutely had to be there to fill that budget hole for this year," Ballard said.

The state still has hundreds of million dollars in federal stimulus money earmarked for education in its bank account.

Area educators hope state lawmakers do not use that money to shore up the revenue shortfall now because they believe they will need those dollars next school year.

"But if they use stimulus money it will make next year more difficult," Ballard said.

Longtime educators are not counting on state revenues bouncing back any time soon.

"The money isn't there. We're in a recession and everyone is suffering," Drover said.

While larger districts like TPS are pushing for lawmakers to save the stimulus money for later, some smaller districts say they need it now.

Doctor Ballard says two dozen school districts may not have enough money to make it to the end of fiscal year 2009, which is June 30th.