Voucher Bill Hits New Roadblock As American Farmers & Ranchers Cooperative Voice Concern

The controversial school voucher bill hit a new roadblock in the Oklahoma Senate. 

The legislation is splitting lawmakers not by party lines but by where lawmakers live. 

This comes after an influential farmer and rancher’s group threw their weight against SB1647 — stopping it in its tracks on Monday. 

 “They did not have enough votes to pass the legislation out there. There was thought it may come back up today (Tuesday), but it did not. So, I think our rural legislators. I want to thank our rural legislators for standing up and saying no,” said Scott Brumbaugh, American Farmers and Ranchers organizers.  

The American Farmers and Ranchers Cooperative represents 66,000 Oklahomans. 

 They’ve been watching the bill closely and passed a special policy in February to address concerns.  

“That said we adamantly oppose any voucher systems or anything that takes funding away from our rural schools,” he said.  

 A call-to-action last week seems to have swayed some Senators.  

“We were able to bombard the statehouse with emails and phone calls. calling their state senators out and saying please vote no on this it could be bad for rural schools,” he said.   

SB1647 could come up at any time — we’ll be watching closely as lawmakers could make some adjustments to the bill.