Keating proposes big education increase

Wednesday, February 2nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A $123 million increase for schools, enough for $2,000 teacher pay raises, was proposed by Gov. Frank Keating today as he looked toward the opening of the 2000 Oklahoma Legislature next week. Keating, getting a head start in the budget battle, announced details of his spending plans at a news conference.

His $5.2 billion budget is balanced by spending $116 million in national tobacco settlement money that is expected to accrue to the state by the end of the next fiscal year. It also calls for $73.3 million in state agency budget cuts. "This will be the year of the teacher," Keating said, saying he was proposing "a roaring education budget."

His plan included a $40 million increase for colleges and universities. He proposed a $500 million capital bond issue, that includes $150 million for state projects and funding for school technology and a wide range of projects on college campuses. His budget would tap the $75 million available in the constitutional Rainy Day Fund to keep a $3 billion highway construction program on line. It calls for funding the second half of the highway bond program.

His car tag plan would establish a flat rate of $85 for cars up to 5 years old, $45 for cars 6 to 10 years old and $15 for cars 11 years or older. That would cost $66.7 million next year. He also wants a quarter-percent reduction in the state income tax rate -- a $21 million cut -- and aligning the Oklahoma estate tax exemption with the federal exemption, which would have no fiscal impact the first year. "This balanced budget sets forth my administration's goals and priorities to grow Oklahoma," Keating said. "Investments in education and infrastructure along with returning tax dollars to hard-working Oklahomans are both possible with the funding we have available this year." Keating's plan did not include any money for state employee pay raises.

Keating said Oklahoma had a problem because it had not taken advantage of technology to streamline its operations and ranked high among the states in the number of state workers per capita. He said the reason state employees in Oklahoma are poorly paid "is we have a lot of people to pay." His budget includes $3.5 million to assist agencies to re-engineer and streamline their operations and $4.7 million to transform the workers' compensation court system to an administrative system. Keating said $42.8 million of the tobacco money would go for Medicaid reimbursement increases to keep rural hospitals from closing.