Teacher Pay, Oil And Prices Weigh On Gov. Fallin Ahead Of Session

After addressing her status with the presidential transition, Governor Mary Fallin turned her focus on Thursday to issues facing Oklahomans while answering questions in a short press conference.

Fallin was attending the annual Public Affairs Forum at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City before stepping away to take questions.

Budget Shortfall

Fallin addressed the state’s looming budget shortfall during the flurry of questions. Estimates show the state could end up with a similar shortfall this year after ending the previous year more than a billion dollars in the red.

However, Fallin praised the recent decision by the OPEC oil cartel and Russian decision to halt production on nearly 1.2 million barrels of oil produced daily. An overproduction of oil caused a massive drop in the price per barrel in 2015 forcing lay-offs and hurting the state economy. According to estimates from the state, roughly 25 percent of every tax dollar is linked to Oklahoma’s energy sector.

After the OPEC agreement was announced, the first of its kind in 15 years, the price of oil per barrel spiked 8 percent. It was a decision the governor praised.

“What OPEC has done this week by getting back on production should help the price of oil, we saw some movement even today, but we hope that the revenue short fall will be about half of what it was last year,” Fallin said. 

In a later emailed statement, Fallin said “America is better positioned to compete and win in the world energy market. For our national security and economy, our country must continue on a path to becoming energy independent.”

The statement mirrored similar language used by President-elect Donald Trump and his chief energy advisor, Harold Hamm, who is also the CEO of Oklahoma City based Continental Energy. Reportedly, Hamm made nearly $3 billion in three hours after the OPEC deal went through.

Teacher Pay

The Governor also addressed the state of Oklahoma education. She didn’t answer whether there were any new plans to give teachers pay raises. Working to pay teachers more was a large portion of Fallin’s state of the state address last February.

Over the summer, the legislator defied her recommendation for a special session to divvy up unplanned but left over money to teachers. Last month, Oklahomans voted against a one percent sales tax increase that would have funded public education.

“I've been talking to the legislative leaders all along and I think they are supportive of trying to address the shortage of teachers, trying to address teacher pay raises and put in education reform,” Fallin said. She did not elaborate on what reforms could be implemented, only that they would ensure “good results and accountability.”

Currently the minimum salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $31,600, per the State Department of Education.

Prison Problems

When it came to the problems with Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections, Fallin praised Director Joe Allbaugh and the department board’s decision to approve a budget request for nearly $1.65 billion.

Allbaugh said the request, which is more than triple the DOC’s current budget, was to help reverse decades of deferred maintenance and neglect.

“The department of corrections for decades, many many many decades, has not received the attention that it should,” Fallin said echoing Allbaugh.

The budget request included a raise for corrections workers and more than $120 million to fund repairs to equipment and 23 different state prisons and community corrections centers. It would also spend $850 million on two new medium security prisons to help control the departments overcrowding problem projected to deepen in the next decade.

Some state legislators have said the request is unrealistic given the poor financial positioning of the state. Fallin, however praised her prisons chief for pointing to the problems with Oklahoma’s correctional system.

“I appreciate director Allbaugh bringing so many issues to light, that's what I asked him to do. When I appointed him as director was to really take an in depth look at the needs of our Department of Corrections and make recommendations,” Fallin said.

Prison and criminal justice reform was also a focus of Fallin’s latest state of the state. She advocated for altering mandatory minimums for non-violent, low level drug offenders and working on rehabilitation and work-training programs.

Oklahomans also voted in favor of a plan like Fallin’s proposal on this year’s ballot that would turn several drug felonies to misdemeanors. The vote dove-tailed with the creation of a fund to support rehab programs, also approved by voters.