俄克拉荷马州将于8月25日对第844号州问题进行投票 [1]，该提案涉及州是否可以选择退出一项长期经济发展计划 [1]。该计划要求州政府补偿地方政府因制造业设施获得五年房产税豁免而遭受的税收损失 [1]。
学校领导和教育倡导者警告，通过这一修正案将严重削减学校资金 [1]。上一财年，州支出约8860万美元用于此项补偿，其中6400万美元为补充拨款 [1]。2020财年时补偿达到峰值1.612亿美元 [1]。42个县获得补偿，其中梅斯县和塔尔萨县获得近60% [1]。
普莱尔公立学校在2025-26年从补偿基金获得2400万美元 [1]，该学区最近通过了9800万美元债券，为该学区历史上规模最大的债券选举 [1]。怀恩伍德公立学校的一般基金中有16%来自补偿基金 [1]。
支持者包括州众议院议长凯尔·希尔伯特和州参议院主席隆尼·帕克斯顿 [1]。但教育界人士表示反对。俄克拉荷马乡村学校联盟创始人埃里卡·赖特指出："立法领导人想要不必支付那些大笔支票的能力" [1]。怀恩伍德公立学校超级玛丽安·穆尼表示："这不过是在转移资金，就像2020年的警察经费削减一样，这是在删除学校经费" [1]。
Oklahoma voters will decide the fate of State Question 844 on August 25, which would allow the state to opt out of a long-running economic development program [1]. The measure centers on a requirement that the state compensate local governments for tax revenue lost when manufacturing facilities receive five-year property tax exemptions [1].
School leaders and education advocates have raised urgent concerns that passage would severely reduce school funding across the state [1]. In the most recent fiscal year, the state paid approximately $88.6 million in compensation, with $64 million going toward supplemental school allocations [1]. Compensation payments peaked in fiscal year 2020 at $161.2 million [1].
The impact varies significantly across the state's 42 recipient counties, with Muskogee and Tulsa counties receiving nearly 60 percent of all compensation [1]. Individual school districts face substantial consequences: Pryor Public Schools expects $24 million from the compensation fund in fiscal year 2025-26 [1], while the Wynwood Public School district derives 16 percent of its general fund from these payments [1]. Pryor recently approved a $98 million bond—the largest in the district's history [1].
"This is simply shifting money around, just like the police defunding in 2020, and this is deleting school funding," said Marian Muniz, superintendent of Wynwood Public Schools [1].
Legislative leaders including House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton support the measure [1]. Erica Wright, founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Association, characterized the driving motivation: "Legislative leaders want the ability to not have to write those big checks" [1].