The governing boards of the state’s two largest school districts are considering legal intervention in a lawsuit that aims to secure more public tax dollars for charter schools.
The Oklahoma City Public Schools board voted Monday evening to authorize its attorneys to file for the intervention. The Tulsa Public Schools board is set to take up the issue at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.
In July, the Oklahoma Public Charter School Association filed suit against the State Board of Education in Oklahoma County District Court. Because it was filed as an emergency petition, the suit is on a fast track, with a hearing of the emergency petition and plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment scheduled for Nov. 3.
The consideration of legal intervention comes just days before the State Board of Education’s next monthly meeting, which is set for Thursday morning.
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At issue are state dollars from gross production tax, motor vehicle tax and rural electrification association tax collections; state school land earnings; and local dollars from county tax collections.
Currently, those funds go only to traditional public schools, but the association’s member charter schools, which are public schools operated by independent governing boards, are seeking a share.
In a written statement, Tulsa Public Schools said: “Intervention in this suit is not our first choice. We believe that this issue deserves a legislative solution that is lawful, sustainable, and equitable. We are also concerned about the accelerated pace of the lawsuit and do not have the information we need to understand the legal, fiscal, and programmatic impact on Oklahoma school districts.”
Oklahoma currently has 28 charter districts, serving nearly 17,000 students, primarily using state aid dollars only. The potential funding drain for the Tulsa and Oklahoma City school districts could be significant because the vast majority of the state’s charter schools are located inside their boundaries.
Other sponsors of charters include the State Board of Education, universities and tribal governments.
According to its lawsuit, the charter school group wants the court to force the State Board of Education to “ensure that local revenue and state revenue is allocated to public charter schools in a manner that is equitable on a per student basis within the same tax base.”
“Defendant is required to act to address inequities in funding between traditional public schools and charter public schools,” the lawsuit states. “Having complied with all of the requirements to be a charter school, charter schools should receive funding equitable to traditional public schools from Local Revenue and State Revenue sources.”
Attorneys for both the charter schools association and the State Board of Education declined to comment, citing the fact that litigation over the matter is pending.
