Okla. cuts spending 7% due to drop in natural-gas, oil prices

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY

Oklahoma will slash spending across the board by 7 percent for the remaining four months of the fiscal year to cope with a sharp drop in oil and natural-gas prices that has hurt state revenue, and a top education official said the cuts will force many rural school districts to reduce classes to four days a week.

State Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger ordered the cuts – on top of previous reductions of 3 percent that began in January – and warned lawmakers that Oklahoma faces a $1.3 billion budget hole for the fiscal year beginning in July that could result in more reductions “right through the bone.”

The state Office of Management and Enterprise Services said that for most state agencies, the cuts will have the impact of an 18 percent reduction over the next four months. Agency spokesman John Estus said that for public schools, the cuts will have the impact of a 16.5 percent reduction for the balance of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

“Our schoolchildren are the ones who will pay the steepest price,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister. She said the cuts will force many school districts in rural areas to go to a four-day school week and consider “heartbreaking decisions” that will affect students in the classroom.