David Bullard
OKLAHOMA CITY — A state lawmaker wants to eliminate federal aid to Oklahoma’s public schools to free the state from federal education regulations.
Senate Bill 863 by Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, would direct the State Department of Education to develop a plan for a 10-year phaseout of federal aid earmarked for education. Bullard, a former school teacher, said the state’s education system was protected by the 10th Amendment and added that federal overreach was “alive and well in Oklahoma’s education system.”
“I filed SB 863 to have the Department of Education create a ten-year plan to remove the federal government where it does not belong and replace it with state funds. The federal government does not need to be in Oklahoma education,” he said.
A study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation showed that eliminating federal funds would include at least $200 million allocated for programs in school districts that have high numbers or high percentages of students for whom English is not their primary language, and schools with high numbers or percentages of impoverished students. Studies show that 195,000 Oklahoma children under the age of 18 lived in impoverished families in 2020.
Critics of the proposal say eliminating federal funds could also disrupt intervention programs for children in foster care, homeless children and minors who are neglected, delinquent or otherwise at risk of failure.
Bullard said his bill would ask the State Department of Education to develop a 10-year plan to phase out federal funds and protect the amount of state funds needed to fill the gap. The proposal would have to be submitted to legislative leaders by June 30, 2024.
Bullard told an Oklahoma City television station that the legislation was pushback against the federal government.
“We don’t want the string-and-chain approach to being connected to whatever the federal government, some bureaucrat in DC tells us we have to do in Oklahoma,” he said.
In an interview with the Oklahoma Council for Public Affairs, Bullard said his proposal would also keep students from studying critical race theory or being exposed to the LGBTQ agenda.
“If you want your schools to be forced into an LGBTQ agenda, for your daughter to be forced to compete against men, for CRT to be forced into your classrooms, keep selling our children to the federal government,” Bullard said in a story posted on the OCAP’s website. “As for me, I will follow the Constitution and cut the chains of federal government overreach and make sure Oklahoma is in control of our own education. No program will be shut down, and no school will lose any money. Don’t buy the lie. Think and research for yourself.”
Records show that Oklahoma has more impacted school districts than any other state. Oklahoma had 33 federal property districts in fiscal year 2020 and the total payment was $1,771,696, ledgers reflect.
If fully funded, the state would have received $19 million from the federal government, but Oklahoma districts have, so far, received 9.28% of what they are due. For the first 30 years, there were no funding inequities; the program was fully funded by Congress from 1951 to 1980.
The formula inequities began in 1980, when program appropriations were cut from $770 million to $707 million. Reductions in the program have continued every year for the past 42 years.
It’s unknown if Bullard’s proposal would apply to the Federal Impact Aid, which is designed to assist local school districts such as Lawton and Mid-Del that have lost property tax revenue due to the presence of property tax-exempt federal property or have experienced increased expenditures due to the enrollment of federally connected children, including children living on Native American tribal lands
Senate Bill 863 has been assigned to the Senate’s Education Committee and then to the Senate Appropriations Committee. State lawmakers return to the Capitol in February for the First Session of the 59th Oklahoma Legislature.
Mike W. Ray contributed to this report.