OKLAHOMA CITY — Seven public schools in Jackson County were awarded “healthy incentive” grants from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust to promote physical activity.
Six schools in Altus received grants totaling $44,000, and a school at Altus Air Force Base received a $10,000 grant, according to Sarah Carson, public information specialist with TSET.
• Altus Early Childhood Center was awarded $10,000. The funds will be used to create two outdoor classrooms for students, in order to provide benefits for mental health and academic performance, TSET reported.
• Altus Primary School was awarded $7,500 to buy physical education equipment for use by all students, to increase their opportunities for physical activity.
• Altus Elementary School received $4,000 to increase opportunities for students to be physically active by creating two outdoor sensory facilities, TSET reported.
• Altus Intermediate School and Altus Junior High School each received a $10,000 TSET grant, and Altus High School received a $12,500 grant. All three will use their funds to buy tools, resources, curriculum, etc., in an effort to decrease vape use. The focus will be “use of evidence-based cessation and prevention strategies,” Carson said.
• L. Mendel Rivers Elementary School at Altus AFB was awarded a $10,000 TSET grant to purchase physical education equipment for its students, to increase their opportunities for physical activity.
TSET has awarded more than $7.7 million in incentive grants since 2012.
Created by voters in 2000, TSET is an endowment trust established a percentage of payments from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and the tobacco industry. Funds are invested by a Board of Investors, and the earnings from those investments are used to support efforts to improve the health of Oklahomans.
From each annual payment, 75% is deposited in the trust. Only the earnings are used each year, preserving the corpus to provide grants and programs that improve health for generations to come. The remaining 25% of the annual payment is split between the Legislature, which receives 18.75% for its Tobacco Settlement Fund, and the Attorney General’s office, which receives 6.25% for ongoing enforcement of Master Settlement Agreement provisions.
The balance in the TSET corpus on June 30 was $1.57 billion, agency ledgers showed.