Issue Position: Economy Future

Issue Position

Economic Future

While Oklahoma's economy faired far better than most states' during the economic downturn of the last several years, we were still hit hard. Limited resources have been stretched pretty thin. Unfortunately, it's rural communities that suffer the most from economic shortfalls. Take education, for example, it's harder for rural communities to attract and retain quality teachers. Books for our students are sometimes years out of date. Our principals often double as substitute teachers and bus drivers. We are doing more with less, and I commend rural educators for what they do, I am one of them. It's time our legislature backed them up with more and better resources. Restore the cuts to funding we took during the down turn. Maybe you don't have kids in rural schools, but I bet your drive our rural roads. Infrastructure is crumbling across the state. Better roads and bridges are vital to our communities. I want more Oklahomans working on road crews to repair and build new roads and bridges. I want to be certain that conditions are favorable so that all Oklahomans who want to work have the opportunity.

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