School leaders meet with legislative leaders to discuss funding

The leaders of Tulsa County's public schools sat down with the leaders of the state legislature Wednesday to talk about the impact of Oklahoma's budget crisis. <br><br>News on Six anchor Scott

Wednesday, December 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The leaders of Tulsa County's public schools sat down with the leaders of the state legislature Wednesday to talk about the impact of Oklahoma's budget crisis.

News on Six anchor Scott Thompson has more on what educators want to do to get Tulsa County schools out of money trouble. Tulsa County school superintendents say the state budget crunch has cost their districts more than $38-million this year.

They met with lawmakers in Tulsa to outline the problem and talk about solutions. District leaders weighed in on how the budget crunch was squeezing their schools, from job cuts to the loss of programs. Tulsa County school superintendents say if state money continues to be cut short, schools will continue to continue to suffer.

So, they want lawmakers to cut their costs, by lifting mandates required by the state but not paid for by the Legislature. And suspending the 7% fee district's pay to shore up the teacher retirement system. They're also asking lawmakers to raise the state sales tax, or to tap the state's rainy day fund. Lawmakers say some of the ideas were feasible, others were not. Republican State Representative Fred Perry, "in the area of mandates the unfunded mandates the 1017 mandates should be suspended some mandates should be eliminated all together I think."

Republican State Senator, "yes they want to support education yes they want to support the state in every way they can however there are fewer dollars in their pocket there isnâ€™t more money to belly up to the bar with an increase tax."

Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent David Sawyer says Wednesdayâ€™s meeting encouraged him. And he's confident; lawmakers will get something done to help out education this upcoming session.