Oklahoma gubernatorial election, 2018

Education
Number one — we need to raise pay for our teachers and reduce administrative costs to put money back in classrooms. This isn’t just about doing right by our teachers or giving opportunity to our kids. It’s about our future. If we want to grow our businesses and attract new ones, we must have the entrepreneurs and skilled workers to support them. We need to stop cutting higher education funding too, and invest in Oklahomans to build a more prosperous Oklahoma.

• It’s time for our budget to reflect our priorities. Our teachers need more than a one-time pay raise; they need a series of pay raises to make us competitive nationally so we can attract the best teachers for our kids.
• School funding doesn’t end with teacher pay. Our kids’ textbooks are being held together with duct tape. We need more teachers, smaller class sizes and administrative accountability.
• Pre-K should be available to every student, at every school. Oklahoma’s children deserve a world-class education. That starts with Pre-K.

Health Care
Every Oklahoman should be free to choose the best health care for themselves.

Our governor’s decision to reject Medicaid expansion not only robbed tens of thousands of health care, it created an insurance monopoly that robbed Oklahomans of choice and let insurance companies set sky-high rates. It also crippled the ability of our state’s rural hospitals to provide care to low-income Oklahomans and put enormous pressure on local economies across the state.

On his first day as Governor, Drew Edmondson will reverse our legislature’s harmful decision to reject Medicaid expansion funds.

We need to bring both parties together and consider every option to make sure our health care market is competitive, affordable and working for our families, not insurance companies. To tackle out-of-control prescription costs, we will force the negotiation of price increases, sue companies that manipulate costs and import drugs from Canada when it is safe and effective to do so.

Leadership
Our Governor has been asleep at the wheel instead of leading our state. To grow our economy out of this mess, the governor must work with private industry and lead our state in economic development:

• Work with existing companies to expand operations and help recruit new businesses to come to Oklahoma. Right now, Oklahoma is telling a story of retreat and closed schools, not opportunity and a new era of progress.
• Work with every county on economic development, not just in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Rural counties are losing family farms and rural hospitals are shutting down.
• Focus on maximizing our return on investment. No more waste, corruption or inefficiency. All budgets will have zero-based budgeting, streamlining of executive positions and a robust whistleblower program.
• Staff the Department of Commerce with experienced business professionals who will drive development. No more appointments based on contributions or cronyism.
• Promote public-private partnerships, and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship.

We can breathe new life into rural communities across Oklahoma by encouraging investment, expanding fiber optic networks and passing a Family Farmers Bill of Rights to empower small farmers with fair market access.

Transparency
The budget should be written for Oklahomans, not lobbyists. Our budget process is broken and our priorities have been lost. Legislators are neglecting middle-class families while rewarding special interests. To invest in our people, we’ll close corporate tax loopholes in the state and expand tax deductions for middle-class Oklahomans and small businesses.

It’s not the fault of Oklahoma families that we’re in this mess, and I’m sure not going to make them shoulder the load to fix it. We start by cracking down on those who broke it – the lobbying industry and corrupting political donations and establishing new transparency rules.

And I’ll establish an Office of Open Government within the governor’s office to facilitate the public’s right to know. The Fallin administration’s practice of stonewalling the public ends with me.

A Lifelong Advocate For Open Government and Transparency

• Fierce defender of Oklahoma’s Sunshine Laws
• Trained government officials on requirements of state’s Open Meetings and Records Acts
• Officially designated government emails and cell phone records as open to public inspection.
• Honored by Freedom of Information Oklahoma for promoting openness in government^[22]

Prioritizing Government Efficiency
The success of state agencies shouldn’t be just about bigger budgets. Success is when the state consistently delivers core service to Oklahomans in a cost-effective, efficient manner. Without line-item budgeting, it’s impossible to know which agencies steward their resources well, which is why I will fight for accountability and transparency. I will implement and standardize audits and hold each agency accountable for how our tax dollars are spent, just like I have done in the private sector the last 19 years.

• Reduce and streamline the 400 agencies, boards, and commissions.
• Give the governor more accountability to fire underperforming agency leaders that are in appointed positions.
• Audit all agencies, establish performance metrics for each agency and hold the agency heads and board members accountable for meeting goals that move us toward being a Top Ten state.
• Budget all state funds. Currently, much of the budget is untouchable by the Legislature. It is time every state agency is held accountable and transparency is enforced.
• Require a line item budget. Currently, the General Appropriations bill gives more than 80 state agencies a big chunk of money. It is hard for the Legislature or the public to see how the money will be used. A line item budget will allow the public to see the spending and for elected officials to more effectively eliminate wasteful spending.

Reforming Our Education System
Oklahoma leads the nation in cuts to education funding. Our teachers are underpaid and leaving the state in droves. Too much money fails to reach the classrooms and some school districts have resorted to four-day school weeks. Our leaders are failing our students, our families, and jeopardizing our future. Enough is enough. I will prioritize students and funding for the classroom and invest in the teachers that make a difference every day. It’s time to restore respect to teachers!

• Raise teacher pay so that it matches the pay of teachers in our six-state footprint. With 95 percent of Oklahoma children attending public schools, we must ensure those on the front lines of teaching our children receive the support they need to succeed.
• Review ways to empower local communities to best fund the needs of their local schools. I love what we are seeing in Western Oklahoma where energy development is taking schools off the state funding formula and allowing for higher teacher pay. But we still have many counties without these commodities. I like the policy proposed by a conservative group of House legislators to give schools the flexibility to use part of their current property tax revenue on teacher pay instead of being restricted to buildings and infrastructure.
• Expand the use of video technology to deliver AP classes across our state, especially in rural areas where we have bright, hardworking youth but not enough certified teachers. Our farmers and ranchers should not be faced with putting their children on a bus for more than an hour just to access quality education opportunities. Technology must play a stronger role in how we look to the future of delivering our state’s basic, vital public services.
• Recruit, train and retain great teachers. In a Stitt administration, I will call for the Legislature to create a temporary program to provide $5,000 bonuses to certified teachers who are teaching in Oklahoma for the first time. This will help to incentivize the 400 students graduating from our Oklahoma universities with education degrees to stay and boost our state’s recruitment efforts. A recent survey shows Oklahoma has 536 vacant teaching positions for the next school year. We have gone from 32 emergency certifications six years ago to nearly 2,000 today. I’m ready to help lead the state in reversing the trend.
• Join the growing number of Oklahoma teachers supporting my campaign by signing up to be a Green Apple Teacher for Stitt! Click here to learn more and sign up today!

Expanding Economic Prosperity
As I travel the country visiting my 165 field offices for Gateway Mortgage, I see firsthand the growth and momentum many of the other states are experiencing. In 2016, Oklahoma had -3% GDP growth. In 2017, our state faced a $900 million budget deficit. Too many of our children and grandchildren are leaving the state for better opportunities. I refuse to sit back and let this continue. As governor, I will be committed to growth and prosperity for our entire state. How are we going to do this?

• Capitalize on President Trump’s tax cuts that are leveling the playing field for America to compete in the global market place. With companies moving jobs back to the U.S. and repatriating dollars, Oklahoma is prime to attract this opportunity and diversify our economy with the right kind of leadership. On my first day as governor, the nation will know that Oklahoma is open for business.
• Recruit, recruit, recruit. Several years ago, Oklahoma ended its business recruitment programs in other states. Around the same time, Texas and Arkansas ramped up their recruitment efforts. As governor, I will be committed to being on the front lines of recruiting new business to Oklahoma. As a CEO, I will know how to speak the language of job creators and ensure our state signs good contracts that won’t put us at a disadvantage in the future.
• Licensing reform, leveraging the new data base built by the Labor Commission. We need to cut unnecessary red tape and remove wasteful licensing fees for job creators in Oklahoma. The percentage of the Oklahoma workforce licensed by the state is 25 percent — higher than all but 11 states.

Promoting Oklahoma's Agriculture
Agriculture is one of Oklahoma’s economic mainstays. We have a robust and diverse farm economy across 77 counties in Oklahoma. With over 78,000 farms in Oklahoma, agriculture contributes over $42 billion in output of economic activity in our state and employs over 300,000 people. Our state’s farmers and ranchers produce food and fiber for millions of people worldwide. The following are policies I support to preserve and promote Oklahoma’s agriculture industry:

• Diversifying our economy by placing an emphasis on recruiting businesses to Oklahoma that can add value to our commodities produced right here in Oklahoma.
• Becoming Top Ten in infrastructure and government efficiency, a goal which will include making sure our county officials have the resources they need to complete rural infrastructure projects.
• Improving access to rural healthcare by cutting government red tape, giving healthcare professionals more flexibility and recruiting doctors and nurses to rural areas.
• Protecting private property rights and landowner’s rights.
• Protecting farmers and ranchers from out of state animal rights groups, as no one raises food and fiber better than Oklahoma’s agriculturists.

Advancing Pro-Life Priorities
As a Christian and father of six, I know that there is no gift more precious than a child. I’m strongly pro-life. I believe human life begins at conception and I’ll fight to protect the rights of the unborn in Oklahoma and across the nation.

Protecting Second Amendment Rights
I will fight to protect Oklahomans’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. I’m a member of the National Rifle Association.

Improving Our Infrastructure
Our infrastructure needs immediate attention. Our economic future and the safety of our citizens are at stake. Budget holes and political gamesmanship have crippled maintenance and improvements in roads, bridges, dams and other vital infrastructure. We can no longer kick the can down the road. I will implement a comprehensive, long-term infrastructure plan that provides solutions for our community and paves the way for the high level economic growth that Oklahoma needs.

Fostering a Healthy Oklahoma
State Medicaid spending is out of control. Since 2003, our Medicaid spending ballooned 194% from $714 million to $2.1 billion. No other area of the state budget grew as quickly forcing hospitals to cut core services. I will fight to provide options to our families with quality healthcare while protecting our most vulnerable. For those that fall on hard times, Medicaid must be a trampoline, not a hammock. I will put a stop to the fraud, waste and abuse to ensure the health and future of Oklahomans.

• Audit Medicaid. Both Republican and Democrat states are doing this. The Pew Charitable Trusts reports that Oklahoma had the 11th largest increase in state Medicaid spending as a share of the total state budget over the last decade.
• Address the $30 million mess at the Department of Health and get the agency on track to being a Top Ten performing agency for the state. Establish performance metrics and hold the agency leaders accountable.
• Sell health insurance across state lines to stimulate competition and reduce premiums. The Legislature passed a bill in 2017 authorizing the selling of insurance across state lines, but there are many obstacles to its implementation. I will work with the new insurance commissioner to negotiate compacts with other states to bring about this much-needed competition.
• Bring more telemedicine to rural Oklahoma.^[22]