In my last column, I detailed parts of our state budget that will specifically benefit rural Oklahoma. This week, I'll give a broader overview of the overall budget.

The Fiscal Year 2023 legislatively appropriated budget for state agencies is about $9.7 billion, which is 9.8%, or almost $869.5 million, more than FY 2022. For the first time, we also made an authorization of $401,906,190 for the Oklahoma Teachers' Retirement System Dedicated Revenue Revolving Fund. While not new money, the authorization provides visibility and transparency to the budget, taking the total to $9.84 billion.

A...