Education
Brandon Dutcher | February 1, 2010
An Unintended Consequence Worth Praying For
Brandon Dutcher
"Oklahoma may or may not finish this fiscal year in the black," I wrote last summer in Urban Tulsa Weekly, "and the consensus seems to be that next year's budget situation will be worse. ... And there's one proposal-an item on next year's crowded ballot-that is certain to cause headaches. Leaders of the state's most powerful labor union, the Oklahoma Education Association, are asking taxpayers for an additional $850 million annual bailout. It's called the HOPE initiative
[SQ 744], a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the Legislature to increase per-pupil spending to the regional average.
"‘Whoever digs a pit will fall into it,' the proverb says, ‘and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.' Wouldn't it be ironic if the teacher union's irresponsible ploy forced legislators to save money via school choice?
Brandon Dutcher
Senior Vice President
Brandon Dutcher is OCPA’s senior vice president. Originally an OCPA board member, he joined the staff in 1995. Dutcher received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Oklahoma. He received a master’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in public policy from Regent University. Dutcher is listed in the Heritage Foundation Guide to Public Policy Experts, and is editor of the book Oklahoma Policy Blueprint, which was praised by Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman as “thorough, well-informed, and highly sophisticated.” His award-winning articles have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, WORLD magazine, Forbes.com, Mises.org, The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, and 200 newspapers throughout Oklahoma and the U.S. He and his wife, Susie, have six children and live in Edmond.