State Reductions in Aid Shocks Public School Officials
Posted Date: 01/12/2021
Dramatic shifts in public school enrollment to virtual charter schools because of the pandemic just resulted in significant midyear reductions in state aid allocations to many Oklahoma school districts.
“I was just shocked when I saw those numbers,” said Union Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler.
Trish Williams, the chief financial officer at Union Public Schools who previously served in the same role for Tulsa Public Schools and Broken Arrow Public Schools, said Union’s budget was crafted based on an estimated midyear reduction in state aid of $1.1 million — a far cry from the nearly $3 million adjustment just handed down by the state Department of Education.
“Something like 84% of schools lost money on the midterm adjustment — that’s just unbelievable to me,” Williams said. “The issue is not the (state aid funding) formula — the issue here is Epic. What we are dealing with here is Epic and their staggering level of growth.”
