Oklahoma Needs Full-Day Kindergarten

Following the Oklahoma Legislature has always been a sometimes frustrating but always humor-producing activity as you read beneath (or “view, listen” beneath) the various agendas of the conservative state media to discover the multitudes of contradictions, rhetorical deceits, and pure right-wing propaganda that emits from our new domed Capitol building nowadays.

It is like making a mental journey to a traveling carnival filled with hucksters and tricksters. You know they are going to try to rip you off before you go in, and so you steel yourself against the coming sales pitches, lies, distortions, and omissions. Still, you can enjoy the lights, the cheap rides, the greasy food, the political spectacle. It is some of the best entertainment in Oklahoma City if you have a decent sense of irony and a strong stomach.

The big deal this legislation season, of course, was that for the first time in decades, the Republicans gained control of the Oklahoma House of Representatives. This was supposed to be a dawning of a new day in the state, something big and important, and, of course, in Republican terms, wonderful and extra wonderful with special extra wonderful sauce.

But what has happened is that our Democrat Governor Brad Henry has coolly, moderately, and deliberately taken away the Republican momentum and ensured himself a second term. Even the right-wing monsterThe Daily Oklahoman has found little to gripe about when it comes to Henry. The governor has truly emerged as a bi-partisan politician, a leader who simply wants to get something done here in the state, even if it can only be on a small scale. Henry is doing what he can. He is getting the lottery going, for example, to improve education funding, helping colleges get new classroom space, and now he wants to provide full-day kindergarten for the state’s residents.

This has left House Speaker Todd Hiett (R-Kellyville), who leads the new Republican majority, sounding like a typical carnival ring-toss huckster in news accounts. It has also put him in awkward positions, such as defending his reason for not necessarily supporting the funding of full-day kindergarten in the state.

Whenever you have been backed into a position that means you will not support Oklahoma kindergarteners, I think you have lost the political high-ground in some serious ways.

I know I’m on the left here in the belly of the right-wing beast, but I’ve traveled throughout this state for decades now, and I can tell you this: Oklahomans, generally speaking, support kindergarteners. In fact, here’s a secret, Mr. Hiett: we downright love them. I stake my record as a famous state political expert and former little league soccer and baseball coach on this statement.

Hiett’s claim, according to various news accounts, is that the $24 million kindergarten money is not appropriate because the state should have a “standstill” budget. In essence, if you proposed a new state program, you need to cut somewhere else in the budget to fund it. (Republican ideology: Give some money to kindergarteners, but take it away from sixth-graders or, better yet, nursing home residents.)

This is just a deceitful way to apply the Republican TABOR (Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights) mentality to our state. This ideology effectively means you can never offer new, progressive programs to our budget. All the studies and common sense shows that full-day kindergarten helps get kids ready for school, especially “at-risk’ kids who might not come from such great homes. Our state desperately needs such a program. It will save the state millions of dollars in the long run. This is obvious and forward thinking.

So this year, maybe we need to help out the kindergartners. Next year, maybe we might have to do something about fuel efficiency because of skyrocketing fuel costs. The year after that, it may mean improving the state’s technology so we can compete for business. It is just plain common sense. This does not mean, of course, you do not operate the state without good business practices, always looking for ways to cut waste or to streamline. This does not mean you cannot refund tax dollars. It just means you are pragmatic and real.

As I see it, this is the third time Hiett’s views have seemed really out of whack with Oklahomans.

Initially, for example, Hiett allowed his party’s school consolidators and closers to announce a program which was sure to shut down many rural schools. This seemed odd given that Hiett describes himself as a rancher in Kellyville. “Rancher” seems like a rural occupation to me. “Kellyville” seems like a rural place to me. The plan was later withdrawn after a public outcry.

Then, Hiett threw a fit over the higher education bond package. Even though Henry and the college presidents, and everyone else in the universe had a done deal, Hiett went and threw a fit so he could put some Republican “stamp” on the whole thing. But no one was fooled. The higher education bond package was about reasonable people of all political views coming together for the good of Oklahoma. Hiett just sounded mean and angry. Meanwhile, Henry was pure Okie Funk, folks, a cool (in every sense of the word), bi-partisan leader putting aside ideology for the state’s good.

The headline describing the speaker’s third political faux pas should read: Hiett To Oklahoma Kindergartners: Drop Dead!

I’m sure Hiett, the owners of The Daily Oklahoman, the people over at the archconservative Oklahoma Public Affairs Council, and many of the state’s Republicans cannot wait until virtually of the state’s income and wealth is in the hands of a few rich Oklahomans. If they got to take this money out of the mouths of kindergarteners, then so be it. But that might have to wait until the conservative juggernaut takes over all the branches of state government here like it has on the federal level.

Meanwhile, Brad Henry and Oklahoma’s people might have something to say about that. I get the sense something progressive and populist is brewing in the heartland.

But let us go back to the carnival, shall we? (Picture yourself with corndog in hand as the Ferris wheel turns and the fortune tellers turn over the cards predicting good times ahead for Okie progressives.) The Daily Oklahoman continues to scream out on its biased editorial pages that we need to improve and better fund education at all levels in the state, with which I and any other rational, thinking person can agree. (In fact, I have been amazed at how adamant the newspaper has been about increasing higher education funding which has been shrinking as a percentage of the budget over the years.) But then they also, at least in principal, support obstructionist Republican politicians like Hiett, too. So which side are they on here? Again, think of a carnival huckster trying to get you roped into playing a rigged game of darts and balloons. The newspaper’s principal owners and publisher do not care about regular Oklahomans. Just like a traveling carnival huckster, they want your money, and then they laugh behind your back all the way to their next town.