Education Station Education Station is your station for news about K-12 and higher education in the state of Oklahoma. We’ll also tell you about trends in education, and occasionally post off-beat or just plain intriguing bits of news.
About the law
According to the Oklahoma Charter Schools Act of 1999, districts are obliged to consider charter schools only if the district has more than 5,000 students.
However, under the original law, Norman and Yukon are exempt, although they have more than 5,000 students.
Norman and Yukon were exempt because their school officials, state senators and representatives did not support the idea of charter schools and worked for them to be excluded, said Loyd Benson, who was House speaker at the time.
Benson said there are not enough students in small districts for charters to succeed.
The law was amended this year to let universities sponsor charters.
Although officials with the Tulsa School District say the lawsuit's intent is not to shut down the district's three charters, lawyer Doug Mann said charters statewide would be forced to close if the lawsuit succeeds.
"If the (state) Supreme Court rules that it's unconstitutional, it would shut them all down because there would not be any funding for them,” said Mann, the school district's attorney.
"We are asking that the court hold the statute unconstitutional and prohibit the state Department of Education from issuing any money that would be diverted to the charter schools.
"In other words, that money should be our money.”
The state Education Department, which is listed as the defendant in the lawsuit, has not had time to review the filing, spokeswoman Shelly Hickman said.
The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act of 1999 violates the state constitution because it singles out which school districts are required to allow charter schools, according to the suit, which was filed against the state Education Department in district court in Oklahoma County.
The school districts that share in Tulsa's situation are Bartlesville, Broken Arrow, Edmond, Jenks, Midwest City-Del City, Moore, Mustang, Oklahoma City, Owasso, Putnam City, Sand Springs and Union, according to the state Education Department.
The law was amended this year to allow universities to sponsor charter schools.
Tulsa has three charter schools, and there are about 10 in Oklahoma City.
The lawsuit says "the Tulsa School District is irreparably harmed by its loss of funding that is given to the three charter schools” in the district.
Tulsa School District spokeswoman Tami Marler and Tulsa School Board member Matt Livingood said the objective of the lawsuit is not to shut down charter schools.
"This is not an anti-charter suit,” Livingood said. "We have three charter schools — all performing well. This is not aimed at them.”
The school district just wants all districts in similar situations, like geography and size, to be treated the same, he said.
Charter schools receive per-pupil funding equivalent to that of public schools.
The schools operate under a charter, or contract, with the local school district that allows them to use public funding but operate independently.
What's the precedent?
The Tulsa School District has no particular problem with the state Education Department, Livingood said.
He said Tulsa officials have asked legislators for two years to address their constitutional concerns, and that in lieu of getting any consideration, the board voted unanimously to get the
