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The American Legislative Exchange Council’s most recent edition of “Rich States, Poor States,” which ranks U.S. states based on economic competitiveness, showed property tax burden is one of the few areas where Oklahoma holds a decided advantage over Texas. It may not stay that way.

This year, lawmakers created the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT), which will audit agency budgets and evaluate the effectiveness of state programs and services, issuing published reports of resulting conclusions. Supporters say the office will lead to better legislative oversight and more efficient use of taxpayer dollars. But officials in other states with similar programs say private-sector watchdogs, rather than politicians, often make better use of the resulting data.

To simply increase government spending without any focus on also improving outcomes, 1889 Institute research fellow Mike Davis said, is “a terrible goal.”

The $8.3 billion appropriated budget is a near record for Oklahoma. This brings the two-year increase in appropriations to $1.2 billion.

House Democrats decried portions of this year’s budget plan on Thursday, but then voted for bills they said either provided insufficient funding or misspent money.

Urging lawmakers to spend rather than save money, Democrats painted an apocalyptic picture of Oklahoma’s future if government spending is not increased further.

A seldom-obeyed law mandating passage of a public school budget by April 1 may soon be a thing of the past. House Bill 2769, which repeals the funding deadline, has passed both chambers of the Legislature and is headed for the governor’s desk.

This year’s state appropriation for K-12 schools was above $3 billion for the first time ever. It’s now estimated K-12 schools will have received a $638 million increase in appropriations in just two years, including money for an average combined two-year pay raise of $7,320 for teachers.

Legislative Democrats have argued state government should not set aside $200 million into savings, as provided for in the Republican-authored budget. Instead, Democrats say the money would be better spent at agencies. But in making that case, Democrats have chosen an odd agency to champion.