The Gist of It
“>What’s wrong with the Oklahoma Supreme Court? Maybe the justices don’t quite get the gist of citizen government.
You see, the court threw a voter initiative, called the 65 Percent Solution, off the ballot. The measure would have mandated that 65 percent of school funds be spent in the classroom actually teaching kids.
In Oklahoma only 58 percent of education funds are spent in the classroom.
The Oklahoma State School Boards Association challenged the petition in court. The group’s executive director, Dr. Keith Ballard, said, “We are very much in favor of as much money as possible going into instruction.”
Only thing is . . . they aren’t at all in favor of any such thing.
Dr. Ballard argued, “Other areas would have suffered greatly.” And he pointed out “the great resistance that this had in the education community.”
Funny, I don’t think Ballard sees the great support among parents for spending education money on education. You know, in the classroom. Where our children just happen to be.
Ballard and his so-called “education community” argued that the short explanation on the petition, called the gist statement, was misleading. Of course, anyone not certain what they were signing had a full copy of the measure available on every petition.
Still, the court ruled that the hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma voters didn’t know what they were signing. Once again, the court has protected Sooner State citizens from the awful rigors of decision-making.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
