OKLAHOMA CITY — An initiative petition to let voters decide whether to increase the sales tax to fund education can move forward, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
OCPA Impact, the lobbying arm of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, had challenged the proposal, saying it violated the constitution because it contained more than one subject.
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The court ruled 6-3 that it embraced one subject.
“The proposed initiative petition clearly constitutes a single scheme to be presented to voters, and each section is germane to creating and implementing the Oklahoma Education Improvement Fund,” the opinion stated.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren championed the proposal, which will need 123,725 signatures to get the issue on the November ballot.
The proposed 1-cent sales tax increase would raise about $615 million. It would provide a $5,000 raise to teachers and increase funding for common and higher education and CareerTech. The petition also would require money collected to be used by lawmakers to enhance and not supplant current public education appropriations.
“The court decision today is a great victory for the school children and the people of Oklahoma,” Boren said. “It will allow the people to vote to solve our crisis in education. The court was absolutely right to not stand in the way of the right of the people to vote on this crucial issue. The reasoning of the majority was strong and correct.”
“We are delighted that the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of sending the initiative petition forward,” said Amber England, executive director of Stand for Children Oklahoma. “Oklahomans deserve the opportunity to solve the state’s education funding crisis by voting to pass this plan.”
The state is facing a significant shortage of teachers. In addition, a revenue failure has forced mandatory cuts to state appropriated agencies for the current fiscal year. The Board of Education last week cut nearly $47 million from school budgets as a result.
“We will begin immediately with the signature collection process and already have the staff and resources in place to get this measure on the ballot,” England said. “In light of the current budget crisis, time is of the essence. This is the only plan on the table to keep us from falling to dead last in the nation for education funding and teacher pay.”
Secretary of State Chris Benge said opponents of the proposal have 20 days to seek a rehearing. After that, his office has 15 to 30 days to start the clock on the petition process. Supporters then will have 90 days to collect the required signatures, Benge said.
The state is expected to have at least $900.8 million less to spend in fiscal year 2017.
“In the coming months we will continue our efforts to prevent the Boren tax increase, making sure all Oklahomans across the state understand that the Boren proposal would force on them the highest sales-tax burden in the country and also that nearly half of the money from the tax increase would never make it to teachers,” said Dave Bond, CEO of OCPA Impact.
