We the people of Oklahoma have taken notice of this years budget shortfalls and are becoming VERY concerned.

Due to the recent shortfalls, our leaders have proposed cutting Medicaid, Medicare, Soonercare, and even cut the educational budget, causing many school districts and the state DHS to consider some of the most extreme measures to meet the demands of their respective budget cuts.

The cuts to the educational funding has sent school district leaders scrambling to find new and innovative ways, (and avoid the inevitable lay-offs,) to stretch their shorted coffers...and no one benefits from this. Our teachers are already paid one of the lowest salaries in the Nation and many Teachers are making the difficult decision to relocate to other states offering more. And that doesn't even address the cost to the students and parents.

There are many school districts that are considering a 4 day school week, or reducing the number of classroom hours that the students are afforded. Many of the students in Oklahoma actually RELY on the lunches that school supplies. And many parents would have a hard time trying to reschedule daycare or supervision for their children during these missed school hours or days. This could cause many working parents to have to change their work schedule so their kids won't be unsupervised during the extra time not in school.

The Medical care cuts would affect up to 46,000 Doctors and care providers, and at least 800,000 Low-income Okies. Of those, at least 524,000 are children. These cuts would cause many care providers to stop accepting any kind of state funded insurance as the 25% cut would equate to an almost 65% cut in what Mediccare pays the provider. This would also mean that 93% of nursing homes, pharmacies, medical equipment suppliers, and even hospice services would be operating at a daily loss. Also, matching Federal funding would go away, costing the state an additional $164 Million.

It has been speculated that with these cuts 60-70% of Oklahoma nursing homes would have to close their doors.

In response to all this, the Oklahoma State Medical Association, (OSMA,) has stated urging medical professionals to consider dropping Medicaid. People on state insurance already endure a shortage of providers that will accept Medicaid. This only serves to exacerbate the situation.

All these issues, (budget shortfalls,) can be traced back to the massive Tax Breaks that our leaders gave industries, corporations, and the wealthy. While taking money away from the least of us, Governor Fallin asked for an ADDITIONAL $90 Million for state Corrections Department among other agencies she said needs MORE money.

We are calling for our state leaders to consider, and abolish thesse destructive tax breaks, or at least put them on hold, until such a time as when we can give them freely without having to take so much from the weakest of our citizenry.