Senator wants local funds, not state, for superintendent pay
A former teacher is proposing legislation that would require superintendents to be paid with property taxes and other local funds, not state appropriated money designated for student instruction.
Senate Bill 60 is authored by state Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee, a former educator who said it "eliminates the politics that state dollars are being diverted away from per-pupil funding."
"It kicks the issue to the local board of education where it belongs," Sharp said. "The local board can make the best decision in the hiring and paying for the salary of the superintendent."
The bill would require the Oklahoma Education Department to create a new code in the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System that specifies that a superintendent's salary must be paid by school districts with "dedicated local dollars."
Sharp said there is a perception that Oklahoma has too many school districts and superintendents, despite a reduction of 30 districts since 2014.
Districts that don't receive local funds and have lost enrollment already have been forced to consolidate, which reduces the number of superintendents, he said.
Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, is among the bill's detractors.
"At the end of the day it really changes nothing for schools or school finance," Hime said. "It doesn't increase any money for schools and it doesn't really change any accounting practice or expenditures. It's only a coding change."
Tony Smith, assistant superintendent for Noble Public Schools, said he thinks the bill detracts from the real issue: underfunded schools.
"It's not putting more money in the funding formula at the end of the day," Smith said. "It's just reallocating it in a different (place)."