Oklahoma Schools to Receive Over $38 Million in Marijuana Tax Money
It’s great to see the taxes being generated from marijuana sales in Oklahoma being put to get use.
KTEN reports that Oklahoma school districts received $38.5 million in Redbud Grant funds from the state’s medical marijuana excise and school tax.
In all, the funds were divided up between 330 charter and public schools to be used for new facilities. The grants range from $292 to $142,633. You can see the full list of grant recipients at this location.
State Superintendent of Schools Joy Hofmeister says the goal is to equalize building funds across the state:
Oklahoma is one of a handful of states that has not provided these type of building fund supports to districts that are on the lower end of the ad valorem. This helps equalize the building fund support across the state.
I realize there are those who oppose the legalization of marijuana, but my belief is that it is inevitable. So, if it’s going to be legal, I can’t think of a better beneficiary of the taxes raised than the education sector.
And if Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA) get their way, there will be even more tax dollars raised from marijuana sales.
In October of 2021, the group filed a petition to make recreational marijuana legal in the Sooner State. If legalized, anyone over the age of 21 will be able to purchase recreational marijuana through existing medical marijuana dispensaries.
Keep up with the petition’s progress and the latest ORCA news orcaok.com.