Sand Springs Has Huge Turnout To Discuss 'Menu Of Misery,' Budget Cuts

The recent $7 million state education budget cut is huge, and Thursday night, Sand Springs School Superintendent Lloyd Snow outlined his ‘Menu of Misery.’

More than 100 people were at the parent meeting to discuss how the current budget cut, and more promised in the near future, will affect the district.

There were so many people you would have thought there was a sporting event; instead, they were all there to hear how the budget cuts would impact their kids directly.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute cited research that Oklahoma has made the largest cuts to education funding in the country since 2008. It also offered a reason for the budget crisis - tax cuts that cost the state a billion dollars in revenue each year.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute said, without those tax cuts, the state could invest $356 million more into K-12 education.

Sand Springs Assistant Superintendent, Rob Miller said, "So, this ‘Menu of Misery’ is really just a metaphor to frame the very real conversation, the choices that we are going to have to make, many of which will be unappetizing."

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Miller started the conversation among parents, teachers and community members about what needs to be on the “menu" for schools, and what does not.

"The brutal reality is we cannot sustain the current level of funding in Sand Springs Public Schools for more than a year moving forward," he said.

1/19/2016 Related Story: Sand Springs Superintendent: Bus Routes Could Be On Chopping Block

There were audible gasps when parents like Kyla Rice and Herb Kelley saw where funding was in 2008, compared to where it is and where it will be.

"I think it was scary, you know, the scary truth of what's happening with our budget cuts," Rice said.

Kelley said, "You hear about all these tax cuts, you wonder how it affects you personally, you come to a meeting like this, you get to see it firsthand."

Parents like Kelley left feeling fired up.

"We can't continue to make tax cuts,” he said. “We can't continue to not fund what's most important, which is taking care of our kids. I mean, it's the whole reason I live here."

From here on out, they will continue a discussion about which programs, specifically, will be cut.