Oklahoma: Governor Stitt Puts Trumpism Above Reality and Common Sense | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: Governor Stitt Puts Trumpism Above Reality and Common Sense | Diane Ravitch's blog

Oklahoma: Governor Stitt Puts Trumpism Above Reality and Common Sense

John Thompson writes about the latest madness in his home state of Oklahoma:

The shocking headline was that the price of oil dropped to below $1 a barrel. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was on the phone with Vice President Mike Pence when he heard the news. The legislature now faces “a loss of $1.3 billion in revenue for appropriation between FY 2020 and FY 2022.”

So, why has Gov. Stitt been talking with Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about Oklahoma giving some of $40 million of new federal money to private school vouchers?

Even though the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Program, a tax credit that raises money for scholarships to private schools, was supposed to expand school choice for low-income students, it has long been known that “families who earn up to three times the income limits for free and reduced priced lunch (a family of four earning $139,000 a year) are eligible for scholarships.”

Tough decisions’: Stitt projects $1.3 billion drop, legislators want the math 

TELL GOVERNOR STITT WHAT OKLAHOMA EDUCATION NEEDS
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-governor-stitt-what-oklahoma-education-needs

I’ll save non-Oklahomans the details regarding the range of bipartisan efforts to persuade Stitt to embrace reality. Before the COVID-19 shutdown, it seemed like the CONTINUE READING: Oklahoma: Governor Stitt Puts Trumpism Above Reality and Common Sense | Diane Ravitch's blog