DID THE STATE REALLY CUT ALL FUNDING FOR TEXTBOOKS?

Post date: Aug 20, 2016 12:05:34 AM

QUICK ANSWER: Yes, it really did. Some have claimed that the funding for textbooks and other programs was not cut but merely shifted into the separate state aid funding formula to allow for more flexible spending. But the reality is that the state aid funding formula DID NOT INCREASE when those funds, which were always paid on top of the formula funds in prior years, were supposedly shifted over. So total school funding dropped by precisely the amount of all of the former funding for textbooks and other programs. That's a cut, period.

Republican State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister was absolutely correct when she stated that the state cut all of the dedicated funding for textbooks.
In June the Oklahoma State Board of Education slashed $38.2 million from the budget that funded public school activities, at the request of lawmakers who wanted to redirect those funds into the state aid funding formula. What really stung is that the transfer DID NOT increase the state aid formula funding: it remained FLAT. So the "transferred" funds were in fact cut. Even worse, since overall state enrollment continues to increase each year, the actual per pupil funding sent to schools dropped dramatically. Bartlesville has lost over 15% of its annual state aid funding since 2009.

Here's a link to the complete list of cuts. At the bottom of this page is a table showing the programs that lost between half and all of their state funding.

SO NOW WHAT DO WE DO?

The proposed bond issue will pay for digital textbooks and some physical textbooks and other curricular supplies over the next five years, making up for some of the lost state textbook funding. It also includes funding for a Chromebook initiative that will eventually equip all students in grades 6-12 with their own Chromebook to use at school and at home.

Chromebooks cost about $200, or less than the cost of two modern middle school textbooks. They are very simple to operate and repair, and students can use them as digital textbooks and much, much more.

Owasso Public Schools issued a Chromebook to every high school student in 2016, part of their growing program. Broken Arrow and Jenks already have Chromebook programs underway.

Bartlesville will follow those other districts' lead in training high school students to handle most Chromebook repairs and selling low-cost device insurance to parents who can afford and want it.

In this bond issue, Bartlesville has an opportunity to eventually catch up with those other districts, taking advantage of the lessons those pioneers have learned.

Here are the programs for which funding was cut by 50-100%:

Here's a link to the complete list of cuts.