In her Second Inaugural Address today, the Governor announced three main areas in which she intends to focus the balance of her term: educational attainment, over-incarceration and reducing poor health outcomes. These are all worthy goals and hopefully goals with which everyone should be able to agree. When we look at educational attainment, with every reform we look to pass and/or amend: does this change improve the attainment of our students and make them more/less likely to achieve a post-high school certificate or diploma? When we consider every new crime that is proposed: does this person need treatment and accountability for maintaining sobriety or should he/she be in prison...taking up valuable and expensive space that should be reserved for people who are a danger to society? When we look at bills which address the poor health outcomes currently the norm in Oklahoma: does this promote personal responsibility and a better health outcome for the relevant person(s) impacted by the legislation? Simply spending more money is never the sole answer to any of these problems. Since our state is facing a $300mm+ reduction in available spending because of low oil and gas prices along with lack of action to reduce one-time sources of spending, spending more money is also simply not an option. We need to improve in these areas without spending more dollars. What are your thoughts on improving in these three areas?
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 23:22:38 +0000
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