May 7, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
A bill that passed through the Oklahoma House of Representatives recently should help local brick-and-mortar public schools says District 57 Rep. Anthony Moore, R-Clinton.
Moore says Senate Bill 229, or better known as the Redbud School Funding Act, proposes using medical marijuana taxes and the Common School Building Equalization Fund to provide annual per-student funding grants to eligible school districts and charter schools.
He says the act, if signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, could be a big boost for local schools in western Oklahoma.
Currently more than 100 schools in the state that have joined together to file a lawsuit against the state school board for their decision made in March, requiring property taxes to be split evenly between public and charter schools.
Moore says if the bill is signed by the governor, it could prompt the schools to drop the lawsuit.
If the bill is vetoed, the school board’s decision could shift tens of millions of local property tax dollars away from traditional public schools and into public charter schools.
Currently, 334 traditional Oklahoma school districts receive below average funding for their education from annual local tax revenue. This measure would allow the State Department of Education to use grants to equalize funding for those districts as well as the charter schools.
The bill’s authors worked with Oklahoma Education Secretary Ryan Walters, State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, the State Department of Education, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration and the Charter School Association to create the language of the bill.
