Reflecting on his tenure in the Oklahoma Senate, Sen. Joe Newhouse, R-Tulsa, on Thursday shared a contemplative look back at his two terms devoted to shifting Oklahoma's path. According to a statement obtained by the Oklahoma Senate's press office, Newhouse decided not to stand for reelection, choosing instead to cap his political role having served the state since 2016.
Several milestones marked Newhouse's career, one of which was the significant bolstering of the state's Rainy Day Fund from a meager $70 million to a resounding $1.3 billion. "When I joined the Senate in 2016, Oklahoma was in a dire situation," Newhouse told the Oklahoma Senate's press office, "The state was facing record budget shortfalls, savings were nearly depleted and Oklahoma kept making national headlines for all the wrong reasons." He took pride in steering the state towards what he termed 'Oklahoma’s Turnaround', witnessing its departure from those days of financial embarrassment.
Newhouse's platform, championed by a conservative ethos, centered around diversifying Oklahoma's economic landscape, cutting taxes, saving more robustly, enhancing educator compensation, and advocating for school choice. The legislative numbers demonstrate the change; K-12 education funding saw an increase from about $2.3 billion annually to nearly $4 billion during Newhouse's watch.
"Oklahoma’s Turnaround has been a team effort," Newhouse recalled, highlighting his collaboration with Governor Stitt and other legislators to bring forth "positive, meaningful and conservative changes to how we do business in Oklahoma." In terms of education, spending on schools when Newhouse was first elected, which was appropriated annually about $2.3 billion, reflects the commitment to public education with today's budget approaching $4 billion, as per the Oklahoma Senate's press office.
