BIXBY PUBLIC SCHOOLS & BIXBY PLAC 2023 Legislative Goals

Bixby Public Schools has developed a 5-year Strategic Plan with the input of ALL stakeholders.

The mission: “Ignite the Potential of Every Student”

This plan cannot fully succeed without the ACTION of elected officials. If implemented, these legislative goals will ensure BPS is a place where ALL learners believe in their power to LEARN, EXCEL, and OWN their future!

Vibrant Teaching & Learning

Culture of Innovation

Funding & Revenue Streams:

● Protect existing revenue

● Increase per-pupil funding to be regionally competitive

● Formulate a sustainable, long-term plan schools can count on

Graduation Requirements:

● Remove “shackles” (such as foreign language requirement) to open up pathways for kids

Instructional Investment:

● Protect instructional time by not supporting ANY increased testing

● Limit any and all additional requirements/mandates and FUND them if passed Vouchers, ESA’s, & Tax Credit Scholarships:

● JUST SAY NO

● Public $$ = Public Schools

● Do not decrease the “pot” from which all state agencies are funded

● Accountability, transparency, and reporting for OSF

Teacher Pipeline & Retention:

● 50k starting pay for ALL teachers

● Approximate cost at BPS: $3.4M

Exemplary Teachers & Staff

Investment into the State Formula allowing the district to:

● Increase salary scales for support staff

● Lower class sizes across all grade levels (where capacity allows)

● Added programming for students

Safe &Welcoming Schools

Family & Community Engagement

Mental Health, Trauma Support, Community Education Programs:

● Increased funding for added counselors and/or on site social workers

● Local control with increased funding allowing districts to meet individual student needs

● Expand opportunities for Community Education and Family Engagement

● We know our students, we recognize their needs, provide us the resources to serve them

Scan here for the complete 2021-2025 BPS Strategic Plan:

State of the State Summary: Governor Stitt

The Governor presented his State of the State address on February 6 that began the 59th Legislative Session. You can access his speech here.

You can access the Governor's Budget Summary here and the full budget proposal here.

The executive budget lays out the following initiatives also mentioned in the State of the State address:

● $130 million Education Savings Accounts/Vouchers

● $50 million Performance-based pay raises for teachers

● $100 million Innovation School Fund to help start more schools like the Aviation Academy in Norman

● $100 million reading initiative fund, including funding for training teachers in the Science of Reading

● $500,000 for concurrent enrollment

● $87.7 million for the ad valorem reimbursement fund

The Governor also called for $655.7 million dollars in tax cuts:

● $351.1 million to eliminate state portion of sales tax on groceries

● $260.9 million to reduce the Individual IncomeTax Rate to 3.99%

● $43.7 million to reduce the Corporate IncomeTax Rate

Remember, the real budget process is with the Legislature; agencies (including the State Department of Education) send their board-approved requests to the Legislature, and the Governor submits his proposal, but the Legislature sets and passes the budget.

OKSDE Budget Summary: Supt.Walters

The budget approved by the state board is $60 million less than the budget adopted last September under former Supt. Hofmeister.

Important Changes:

● A cut to universal teacher raises

● A new student reading proficiency program

● In Hofmeister’s budget, there was a plan to provide a $5,000 pay raise for all teachers.

● His plan provides a raise anywhere from $2,500-$10,000 to certain teachers.

Other points of interest:

● A new line item was added for the student reading proficiency program.The cost will be $100,000,000.

● Flexible Benefit Allowance, which provides health insurance to 87,000 Oklahoma education employees, will stay flat because of carryover funding

● Textbook spending will increase because the cost of books has gone up

● Administration support will increase from $19 million to $20 million

● Support of Students andTeachers went from $117 million to $226 million because of the reading program