Release: Yes on 779 Campaign Tells Another Lie

Yes on 779 Campaign Tells Another Lie

In a desperate move, the Yes on 779 campaign, Our Children, Our Future (OCOF), unsuccessfully sought to stifle the truth about 779 by sending a cease and desist letter to Oklahoma television stations asking them to quit airing ads which explain that less than half of the money raised by 779 is protected for teacher pay.  When the stations did not pull the ad, OCOF doubled-down and falsely claimed the ads were pulled anyway, citing KXII, a station in the Ada/Ardmore/Sherman media market as having pulled the ads.

Proving this latest lie from the campaign is an email sent at 7:51 pm on November 7, from Todd Bates, General Sales Manager of KXII states the “schedule is currently running as booked.”

The lie that a television station had pulled the ad for being false is just the latest is a series of lies from OCOF.  OCOF continues to mislead voters by claiming ‘every penny will be audited’ when their own ballot language clearly exempts the more than 100 million dollars a year dedicated to higher education funding. It is clear OCOF is either intentionally misleading voters or unable to understand the constitutional amendment as written.

The OCOF continue to falsely claim 60% of the revenue generated by the sales tax will go to teacher pay when the language says it can go to teacher pay or “otherwise address teacher and staff shortages.”  There is absolutely nothing requiring that the “otherwise addressing” staff shortages would mean teacher pay. This could be used for any variety of administrative functions, such as recruiting trips, advertising, or salaries for principals and other non-superintendent administrators.

OCOF and the supporters are clearly afraid voters are seeing what 779 is:  another scam designed by political leaders along the lines of the lottery, casino gaming and HB 1017 – all programs promised to fix education.  Tax Bill 779 falls in line with these other efforts by using k-12 education as a Trojan Horse to accomplish a different end:  in this case, it is the close to $400 million a year that is not protected for teacher pay.

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Authorized and Paid for by Oklahoma Deserves Better