'Promise' scholarships funding among conflicts
Capitol Spotlight for weeklies for week of Jan. 28, 2007
By Jim Campbell
OPA Capitol News Bureau
A freshman lawmaker posed a "chicken or egg" question as Oklahoma's new chancellor of higher education urged lawmakers to help lift Oklahoma's economic level by boosting the number of its college graduates.
"There is a heightened feeling that higher education is the engine that can build a better future for our state," Chancellor Glen Johnson told the House Education Committee.
Johnson's contention that more college degrees will pump more money into the economy is a given with most legislators and a frequently stated goal of state officials. But Rep. Eric Proctor, D-Tulsa, said that pump has to be primed to deliver.
"If we don't increase aid to the students, how can we increase the number of graduates?" he asked.
Johnson, newly arrived from the presidency of Southeastern State University where he said up to 77 percent of students need assistance, is asking that more than half of a $22 million request for scholarships go to the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program (OHLAP). Johnson is asking a total $240 million more for higher education, which has an appropriation of more than $1 billion this fiscal year.
The OHLAP program provides tuition for students in families with less than $50,000 annual income. They must enroll by their sophomore year, stay out of trouble and maintain a 2.5 grade-point average.
A permanent source of funding for OHLAP is where sharp differences can be expected in the Centennial legislative session beginning Feb. 5. It is just one of many issues that may be contentious, among them reform of lawsuits Republicans repeatedly call "jackpot justice" to the disdain of Democrats, tax cuts and a host of social disputes.
Legislators filed 2,316 bills for the session, compared with more than 2,700 last year. 
Gov. Brad Henry proposes earmarking 1.25 percent of state income tax receipts for OHLAP, also called Oklahoma's Promise scholarship program.
"We'll find ourselves in trouble, unable to keep that promise if we don't find and enact a long-term, stable, significant revenue source and continue to pay for this most important program," Henry said.
On Jan. 26, Henry proposed a record $3.9 billion budget for public education with emphasis on teacher pay, dropout prevention and college scholarships.
Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond, vice chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, said Henry's OHLAP proposal "demonstrates a fundamental difference between House Republicans and the governor."
"House Republicans will continue to ratchet down the income tax to boost economic growth and opportunity, while the governor prefers to tie spending to this harmful tax," he said.
 The Legislature appropriated $37 million for OHLAP this year, up from $26 million the previous year. An estimated $48 million will be needed in the next fiscal year and Henry's plan would kick in about $36 million of it.
Sen. Mike Morgan, D-Stillwater, co-leader in the evenly divided Senate, found the proposal "certainly intriguing," saying he still believes in expanding the eligibility level to $75,000 family income.
House Democratic leader Danny Morgan of Prague said he was "very excited," declaring that, "like the governor I believe the income tax is the most stable source" for the program.
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Taxes are a likely source of friction. As House Republicans rolled out their agenda, Miller promised they would "stop any efforts to roll back" the level of tax relief enacted last year - although so far no one has publicly suggested any rollback.
Announcing his "Entrepreneurial Society" platform, House Speaker Lance Cargill attacked a "burdensome bureaucracy and an unfair tax burden" he cited as roadblocks to economic growth.
Several tax cut bills have been filed, including accelerated elimination of the income tax.
"I've not seen those bills, but I am curious as to where they would make up that money," Henry said. 
"We have to keep in mind that during the last two legislative sessions we have enacted the largest tax cuts in history," he said.
He said drastic cuts could jeopardize schools, roads, healthcare "and on and on."
"I don't know if the people of Oklahoma want to increase the property tax or the sales tax," he said.
Cargill said one of the first tax relief plans to pass the House will be House Bill 1295, offering a childcare tax credit for stay-at-home parents.
He suggested a consumption tax as an alternative to Oklahoma's income tax.
Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, would speed up the personal income tax cuts in House Bill 1388.
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Oklahoma's poor ranking in health care is a huge bulwark against higher state prosperity, State Health Commissioner Michael Crutcher told a House committee.
Citing a "dead last" rate of heart attack and low rankings in diabetes and other conditions limiting life expectancy and productivity, Crutcher said Oklahoma could not expect to reach the top 10 nationally in health status. But it could shoot for the middle.
Lack of accessibility to health care is a chief reason, but Crutcher said even the best insurance would not remove threatening conditions if Oklahomans continue to smoke and make unhealthy life choices at present rates.
Henry proposes to increase health care coverage by expanding a program helping small business provide health care to their employees and increasing Medicaid eligibility for children from 185 percent of poverty to 300 percent, the maximum under federal rules.
Cargill and Senate co-leader Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said the state subsidy to small business has failed to meet expectations, and Coffee was wary of expanding it in what could be "a tight budget year." Cargill called it "oversold and under-delivered."
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