Oklahoma legislature is halfway thru this year's session

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- At the halfway point of the 2005 Oklahoma Legislature, lawmakers can brag about one major success -- the enactment of a $500-million college bond program.<br/><br/>But they also have

Monday, April 11th 2005, 6:26 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- At the halfway point of the 2005 Oklahoma Legislature, lawmakers can brag about one major success -- the enactment of a $500-million college bond program.

But they also have a couple of glaring failures on their mid-session report card.

Heading into the final seven weeks of the session, leaders have yet to rise above partisan differences and enact a school funding bill.

Their failure to do so by an April 1st deadline has caused headaches for school administrators. As a result, schools have had to make personnel decisions without knowing how much state aid they will get.

Another major setback occurred last week when talks collapsed on reaching an agreement on a general funding bill.

Without a general appropriations bill, legislators risk a special session if they can't resolve their disagreements and complete the budget process by May 27th.