- dead last in the region - and 48th in teacher pay. How can we expect our kids to go out and do battle with the kids from Arkansas and Texas for jobs when we've got a situation where there are overcrowded classrooms and limited resources? Having a great, well-educated workforce is a great economic driver, and right now, we're behind."

Matt Robison, vice president of small business workforce and development for the Oklahoma State Chamber, agrees on the last point. But he says 744 will simply make things worse - much worse.

"The fallacy for 744 is it only talks about the level of appropriations for common education," he says. "It doesn't say where the money goes ... it doesn't necessarily have to go to the classroom or teachers at all. There is no accountability at all."

In September, outgoing Gov. Brad Henry announced he would serve as the honorary chairman of the One Oklahoma Coalition, which maintains that Oklahoma's children are caught in the middle. He says passage of 744 would have a devastating effect on Oklahoma's economy.

"It has been touted by those who want 744 that anybody against 744 is against children," Robison says. "Nothing could be further from the truth."