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Warmington: Standing up for students By: Chad Warmington Guest Columnist April 2, 2021
Chad Warmington
Open transfers and the companion real-time funding mechanism, top priorities for The State Chamber, cleared the final hurdles in the House and Senate this week, and the governor signed both into law hours later.
House Bill 2078, authored by Rep. Kyle Hilbert and Sen. Zack Taylor, adjusts the state school funding formula by considering real-time enrollment, as opposed to the previous three years’ enrollment rate. Senate Bill 783, by Sen. Adam Pugh and Rep. Brad Boles, allows for open transfer in public schools.
A significant number of students will receive educational opportunities through open transfer that they would not have otherwise gotten. When they do, the state funding designated for those students will go to the schools actually educating them, ending the continual dilution of the state’s funding formula.
Rural School Districts Frustrated With State’s New Sweeping Funding Change
Oklahoma City and Tulsa Public Schools have made their displeasure with the Oklahoma state legislature known after Governor Kevin Stitt signed a sweeping funding bill into law Wednesday. Rural districts across the state say they’ll feel the squeeze.
Currently, districts pick the highest enrollment numbers from either the current school year or the two years prior. The new law takes away that third-year option, forcing districts to choose either the current year, or the one year prior. District leaders said that change will make funding more volatile with ebbs and flows of enrolment.
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State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said one will put the education of some children in jeopardy.
Hofmeister was noticeably absent as the governor signed both bills into law.
“We re truly transforming the way we will educate kids in Oklahoma,” said Gov. Kevin Stitt.
“Instead of having the government tell you where your kid goes to school, have the parent choose where your kid goes to school,” said Oklahoma Representative Kyle Hilbert.
Hilbert co-authored House Bill 2078. He said the state s current funding formula was in desperate need of an overhaul.
“Our school funding formula funds schools based on a three-year high. So, if a student transfers from school A, to B, to school C from one year to the next, even though school C is the one educating the student, all three schools are receiving the funding for that student,” said Hilbert.