Petition drive starts for education sales tax

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A group pushing for a public vote on a one percent sales tax for education in Oklahoma is launching its signature gathering effort to put the question on the ballot in November.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren and Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan are among those helping kick off the effort Tuesday during a news conference in Oklahoma City. The group’s 90-day window for gathering signatures from about 123,000 registered Oklahoma voters begins on Tuesday.

The group Oklahoma’s Children, Our Future says they have recruited and trained more than 200 volunteer and paid staffers to collect signatures from across the state.

The sales tax would generate about $615 million annually and about 70 percent would be used to pay for a $5,000 pay raise for teachers.