Oklahoma Legislature
OKLAHOMA CITY – State lawmakers passed several bills this week that could make major changes in both the state’s common and higher education systems.
With Thursday’s deadline to hear legislation from the house of origin, House and Senate committees faced longer than usual agendas. Tuesday, members of the Senate Education Committee endorse a proposal that would expand the income qualification for the Oklahoma Promise Scholarship. Under Senate Bill 1092, the $60,000 income threshold for the scholarship would be gradually increased by indexing the income based on the Consumer Price Index.
Senator Darcy Jech, a Republican from Kingfisher, said index would begin to increase in 2025. Jech said he wasn’t concerned that the income increase could make the program cost more. “It’s a good program,” he said. “If we can expand it, I’m supportive of that.” The committee also endorsed a proposal that creates a task force to study the possibility of requiring high school students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a bill that eliminated media notification requirements for certain school board elections and legislation which created a state and tribal education data partnership.
That same day members of the House Education Committee endorsed a proposal by Rep. Shelia Dills, D-Tulsa, which Dills said would increase the transparency and accountability of the state’s virtual charter schools. The proposal, House Bill 2905, unifies transfer, attendance, student engagement and truancy policies. Dills said the bill requires the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board to develop rules for orientation information to be provided to students and parents. “This measure makes sure all of our public virtual schools are serving students in a way that protects them, ensures parental flexibility and assists with better outcomes,” Dills said in a media statement. “We realize there’s a place for virtual charter schools in our society, and they serve a need for students and their families.
We do, however, want to make sure that their policies are transparent to the public, particularly in how they receive and spend taxpayer dollars for the students they serve.” Dills said the proposal had input from representatives of the state’s two largest virtual charter schools in Oklahoma, the state superintendent of public instruction, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration and the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. “This has been a beautiful, collaborative process that started last summer and in my opinion is an example of the way government should work,” she said. “Everyone came to the table with ideas to improve the virtual charter school law and have been very cooperative.”
The measure was praised by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister. “Today’s vote is a strong step in the right direction for transparency and accountability among our virtual charter schools,” Hofmeister said in a media statement. “These schools meet a legitimate educational need for many students, but we know policy has struggled to keep pace with the virtual model. We are grateful to Rep. Dills for authoring an omnibus reform bill to strengthen requirements for virtual charter schools while protecting student and parent choice. Specifically, the bill addresses issues regarding transfers, communication between districts, student attendance policies, truancy and requiring a student orientation for each new pupil.”
A second measure by Dills, House Bill 2094, was also endorsed by the committee. That bill would give the state school superintendent subpoena power. Hoffmeister said the bill was necessary to ensure accountability. “Without the same subpoena power afforded to more than 40 other state agencies, the State Board has one hand tied behind its back in its efforts to be judicious stewards of public education dollars,” she said. Oklahoma lawmakers will begin working through committee bills next week. The legislative session adjourns May 29.