Bill authors and proponents today celebrated a new law to allow rural school districts to sponsor a public charter school by attending a ceremonial signing by Governor Fallin.
Senate Bill 782, by Sen. Clark Jolley and Speaker Pro Tempore Lee Denney, expands the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act to allow school districts outside of Oklahoma and Tulsa counties to sponsor charter schools for rural kids and families. It also provides an appeal process to the state education board for charter applications initially denied by a local district.
“The idea is to expand a successful model we have in our largest school districts to any district that wants to implement a charter school,” said Denney, R-Cushing. “We had requests from school districts to expand the authorization. There are communities that oppose charter schools, but this does not force it on them. The decision to use the charter school option will be a local decision, under the law.”
The measure has the support of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association, the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center, the Oklahoma Education Workforce Initiative, the Oklahoma chapter of Americans For Prosperity and various chambers of commerce from around the state.
“We wrote it in a way to get broad support,” Denney said. “What would have gotten wide opposition would be a mandate or a state authorizer of charter schools.”
