State government in Oklahoma needs a big dose of common sense and leaders who understand solid business principles.

For example, the reason why teachers have not gotten pay raises is because too much funding got stuck in administration instead of the classroom. More money for public education is ineffective unless there are reforms that utilize those funds more efficiently and more directly in the classroom.

This is what President Trump is doing to turn the U.S. economy around as he “drains the swamp.”

Dan Hicks, the Republican nominee for House District 79, has exactly the type of business background to help the state more effectively spend funding not only for schools but for prisons, highways, bridges, retirement funds and a host of other important government functions.

And Dan Hicks understands that we don’t need to raise taxes to accomplish this.

State officials estimate that revenue in this fiscal year will increase by at least $1.3 billion – and that was before the latest wave of gasoline and cigarette taxes began.

Oklahoma doesn’t have a revenue problem – it has an administrative problem.

Teachers deserved and got a raise. They play a crucial role in the development of the next generation.

Dan Hicks will sponsor a bill that requires that 65 percent of every education dollar be spent in the classroom. With that reform, classroom teachers will have the funds to buy the pencils and notebooks that they now buy out of their own pockets.

A return to the old “tax and spend” policies of the liberals will make matters worse.

That’s why the Tulsa Beacon endorses Republican Dan Hicks in the November 6 election for House District 79 in South Tulsa.