Legislature OKs cutting school fees
A bill headed to the governor's desk would reduce how much public school districts get to charge charter schools in fees.
The state Senate approved House Bill 3369 with a 38-7 vote on Tuesday before the House approved the final version of the bill on Friday with a vote of 84-5.
Rep. Jon Echo ls, R-Oklahoma City, hinted at future action on the issue. Echo ls, who wrote the bill, said he was in contact with Oklahoma City Public Schools Superintendent Sean McDaniel before the House voted on the measure Friday.
“I have made a commitment with my Oklahoma City Public Schools superintendent that if we pass this I will continue to work with him ,” Echo ls said on t he House Floor. “This probably won't be the last time we see this issue.”
The bill seeks to reduce the maximum administrative fee district scan charge from 5% to 3% of a charter school's annual state allocation. It also creates a $1 million fund to reimburse districts in t he event of a charter's closure.
Reached for comment after the vote, McDaniel said he was“grateful for the opportunity to discuss the bill and its impact on the students of OKCPS moving forward.”
Oklahoma City Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, has been discussing whether to implement the maximum 5% fee to sponsor a chart er school. The district has been charging 3% to the 16 charter schools the district has authorized to open and operate.
Harding Fine Arts Academy Superintendent Barry Sch mel zen bach praised the bill.
Harding Fine Arts is a charter school sponsored through the Oklahoma City district.
“HB 3369 is an important step in protecting some of Oklahoma' s most under funded public school students by keeping dollars in the classrooms of high achieving schools rather than for unsupported administrative fees ,” Sch mel zen bach said in a message to The Oklahoman.
McDaniel re commended raising fees to better support the manpower and administrative work required to maintain the district' s charter school sponsorships.
McDaniel said during a school board meeting Monday that he preferred not to leave money on the table when state education funding is often too little.
“I' ve been working with different leg isl ator stoat least give our input ,” he said to the school board. “If it comes through legislation and it's 3%, then that's what we'll charge. We're not trying to be exorbitant in our fee. We're not trying to make money as has been proposed by some. “
Most recently, the district incurred $ 3 million in expenses after Justice Alma Wilson Seeworth Academy closed June 30.
The district had to quickly prepare a vacant school building, now Putnam Heights Academy, in a matter of weeks to take on former See worth Academy students.
An increase to 5% would help offset costs if any charters close in the future, McDaniel said.
H B 3369 proposes a Charter School Closure Reimbursement Revolving Fund, capped at $1 million, that would pay back a district for expenses when one of its charter schools shuts down.
Every charter school in the state would contribute $5 per student until the fund reached $1 million.