Clip
Feb 2020 Page resized
12 A002 71%
Skiatook Journal
Sanders reveals teacher union goals for Oklahoma
BY JONATHAN SMALL
In a recent column published by The
Oklahoman, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a
self-described socialist, declared himself
connected at the hip with Oklahoma teach-
er unions. There’s good reason to take that
claim seriously—the Oklahoma Education
Association’s national parent, the National
Education Association, has given Sanders
an “A” rating for years—so one should take
seriously Sanders’ agenda as one shared by
his teacher union comrades.
It’s an agenda that means more money
for the government and less money for
working Oklahoma families—even though
Sanders tries to pretend otherwise. And
it’s an agenda that would limit educational
opportunity for Oklahoma children.
Over two years, Oklahoma lawmakers
have increased K-12 school appropriations
by 20 percent, funneling $638 million
more into the system for teacher pay rais-
es and classroom funding. Much of that
funding came from more than $1 billion in
tax increases and other revenue measures
passed since 2015.
Sanders says those tax increases have
“not been nearly enough” and calls for
Property of OPS News Tracker and members of the Oklahoma Press Association.
even more taxes. But Sanders decries Okla-
homa’s recent tax increases—explicitly de-
manded by Oklahoma teacher unions—as
falling “heavily on working families.” And
he argues Oklahoma school problems
were caused by state “tax cuts favoring the
wealthy and large profitable corporations.”
Since 2005, Oklahoma’s income tax was
cut from 6.65 percent to 5 percent. That
tax cut kicks in at $8,700 of taxable income
for single filers. Who knew that earning
$8,700 made one “wealthy”?
So Sanders is in the odd position of
praising unions for forcing Oklahoma tax
increases on working families, even as
he decries those tax increases, and then
argues that tax cuts that benefitted those
working families were a mistake. Make of
that what you will.
And Sanders says he now wants addi-
tional tax increases—on the “wealthy,” of
course.
Sanders also took aim at EPIC charter
schools, an online provider, saying that
school is “draining” $112 million from
public schools, and declared as president
he would put “a moratorium on the expan-
sion of charter schools.”
Never mind that every dollar spent
on a student at EPIC—which is a public
school—would have been spent on those
same students in other public brick-and-
mortar schools, so there’s no diversion
of funding from education at all. And
never mind that charter schools dispro-
portionately serve low-income and mi-
nority students who would otherwise not
get a quality education. Sanders and his
teacher union allies are willing to sacri-
fice those children simply out of ideologi-
cal pique.
In 2019, Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative
leaders chose a different path than the
2018 teacher-walkout model that Sanders
praises. Instead of raising taxes, they in-
creased state savings—something the OEA
opposed, even though those savings will
protect schools from budget cuts in future
downturns.
Let’s hope saner heads continue to pre-
vail in 2020, because if Sanders and his
teacher-union allies prevail, the tax-in-
crease drubbing Oklahomans took in 2018
will become the rule, not the exception.
Jonathan Small serves as president of
the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
(www.ocpathink.org).