Close Vote Predicted on Okla. Tax-Rollback Plan

By Millicent Lawton

A Super Tuesday squeaker is shaping up in Oklahoma next week, but it has nothing to do with the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

A close vote is expected on a March 12 ballot question that would substantially alter local school funding in the state. The proposal would roll back local property-tax rates to 1993 levels and place a ceiling on the percentage by which voters in a county could increase those taxes.

Many educators view State Question 669 as a potentially severe blow to the state's public schools, which depend on local property taxes for about 20...