Oklahoma’s chancellor for higher education asked lawmakers Thursday for an increase in funds for higher education amidst a very severe budget shortfall.

The state faces a $600 million deficit this year, accounting for more than 10 percent of the state’s budget.

While most departments are being warned to prepare for budget cuts up to 10 percent, Higher Education Chancellor Glen Johnson asked for a 6 percent increase, according to Thursday’s NewsOK.com article.

We applaud Johnson’s bold proposition, but it’s going to be hard for higher education to avoid a hit. If funding for education is cut by another 5 percent, students could be faced with more tuition increases.

While our new Gov. Mary Fallin has promised that education is a top priority for her administration, she hasn’t given any specifics as to what sources will provide agencies with revenue or where she will cut spending.

At the same time, Fallin has been absolutely clear that she will reduce the state’s top income tax rate from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent, which would happen Jan. 1, 2012. This is expected to result in a yearly loss of $120 million in funds that could have otherwise gone to other state agencies.

Republicans often tout such tax reductions as necessary for improving the state’s economy, but as tuition continues to rise, we’re left wondering just how much this plan will improve the state’s economy. Maintaining a well-educated populace should go hand in hand with expanding the state’s economy, and students must be able to afford public education.

Until Fallin comes up with specifics, we would like to offer at least one suggestion: Truly analyze tax breaks for businesses and eliminate those that yield no economic return.

The Oklahoma Policy Institute reported in a February study that tax breaks cost the state $5.6 billion during the 2008 fiscal year.

While many tax breaks are necessary, going toward childcare, social security benefits and job investments, others can be wasteful. These are hard to find as they are not subject to legislative oversight.

For example, Quartz Mountain Aerospace cost taxpayers $75 million in its attempts to build an aircraft that never successfully flew, according to a May 17 Tulsa World article.

If lawmakers got serious about this kind of waste, necessary agencies could avoid the steep cuts being proposed.

Until then, education officials predict that education will take the biggest hit because it accounts for half of the state’s budget. That might sound like a lot, but it hasn’t stopped tuition from increasing steadily each year since 1999.

Angela Monson, chair of the Oklahoma City Public Schools board of education summed up the budget situation best in the aforementioned NewsOK.com article:

“If education is their priority, then it will be protected. If education is not as important as tax credits or tax reductions, then it won’t be protected.”