Trying again.. Senate Bill 153

   On November 6, 2018, Senator Stephanie Bice, recipient of $3,500 from Epic Virtual Charter Schools, authored State Question 801 - which if approved by voters, would have allowed all public schools to use "building funds" for operational purposes. Building Fund monies, derived from local property taxation, are typically reserved for traditional public schools to use for school building maintenance or new buildings. They are not allowed, by law, to utilize building funds for operational expenses such as teacher salaries, etc...
   While it sounds very beneficial to allow schools to use all funding resources, including local property taxes, to spend any way they see fit - including teacher and administrator salaries, there was a hidden agenda behind Bice's SQ 801. Virtual charter schools as well as brick and mortar charters currently receive no building fund revenue, because virtual charters have no buildings.. and brick/mortar charters utilize existing buildings, owned by colleges, traditional public schools or businesses. Brick and mortar charter schools are typically sponsored by traditional schools or higher ed. institutions. Oklahoma City Public Schools, Tulsa Public Schools, Seminole State Jr. College, and Rose State College are examples of schools with existing buildings which all sponsor charter schools. So... all charter schools have no use for building funds because they have no buildings!
   Unless... building funds become operational, all charter schools have no use for building funds. If voters would have approved SQ 801, and schools could suddenly utilize building funds for teacher salaries, etc.., charter schools would have a very good argument that they too deserve building funds - since they have the same operational expenses as traditional public schools. Charters and virtual charters would be able to sponsor bond elections for building funds and capture local property tax (ad valorem) if SQ 801 had been approved. Property taxes in many school districts could skyrocket for homeowners, even if no charter schools exist in the county.
   Oklahoma voters saw through the SQ 801 charade, and narrowly defeated it in November, 2018.

   Another state senator is evidently not deterred from the voted defeat of SQ 801, as Senator Gary Stanislawski, the recipient of $2,000 from Epic, is sponsoring Senate Bill 153 - which will allow charter schools to receive "building funds". Like Senator Stephanie Bice's 3,500 reasons to funnel more taxpayer dollars to charter schools... Senator Stan has 2,000 good reasons to send taxpayer dollars to his favorite charity - virtual charter schools. The increased funding for virtual charters, however, would not go towards student education - but to the corporate chiefs of Epic, Connections, and Insight. Even some brick and mortar charter chiefs, like the Fethullah Gulen of Dove Academy, would increase their millionaire status. (The Gulen charter school chain is a Turkish based public school which has sites in Oklahoma and many other states.)
   Paraphrased, SB 153 requires a charter school that has been in operation for two or more years... receive a building fund weight of 1.5. This means, essentially, that a charter school's weighted student ADM would be multiplied by 1.5 to arrive at the appropriate input factor. The building fund monies would be acquired by charters through the state funding formula, unlike traditional public schools which receive building funds from local ad valorem revenue. Rose State College or Seminole State would be two entities that could benefit from the state aid intended for traditional K-12 schools. This change for charter schools would ensure that charters continue to take state aid away from traditional school students.
   While it's unclear which specific charter schools would stand to gain $millions. Some of the potential windfall recipients and their profits are listed below:
Academy of Seminole          -       $222,328
Carlton Landing Academy -         $688,015
Hupfeld/W Village               -      $2,774,153
KIPP REACH COLL.         -          $3,298,793
Gulen DOVE                        -        $9,144,825
EPIC BLENDED                 -       $61,234,414
   To ascertain where the "building funds" would go is as difficult as following state aid through the maze of Epic OCAS reports. An examination of the ownership of charter school buildings, though, may provide some answers. For example. the Academy of Seminole is housed in Seminole State College, so it must be assumed that it will be the recipient of $222,238 in state aid building funds - even though the charter has only 43 students. The end result is that almost a quarter of a million dollars will be taken from traditional public school operational funding, so that Senator Stan can give it to a college building fund.
   The community of Carlton Landing, a resort town on Lake Eufala, started its own charter school two years ago - Carlton Landing Academy. The exclusive community has no homes worth less than about half-a-million dollars, and was developed for leisure living. The homes all look alike, and even the school building matches the wealth involved. With only 133 students, Carlton Landing Academy (owned by the community developer) expects to receive $688,015 from all state taxpayers if SB 153 becomes law. The school will fit right in with the half-million dollar homes. The "developer" may use the tax dollars to build another exclusive school in the same community, or just pocket the funding. We are not sure that Carlton Landing will even qualify for the building funds, but since the developer contributed heavily to lawmakers - we're betting it does qualify.
   We're not sure who owns Hupfeld Village Charter, but whoever does - stands to gain $2,774,153 in taxpayer building funds.
   KIPP Reach College, a corporate owned charter chain school, will see a $3,298,793 taxpayer windfall if it qualifies for Senator Stan's lottery giveaway.
   The Gulen Dove Science Academy is part of a corporate charter chain based in Turkey, the former home of the Fethullah Gulen, who fled the country when suspected of terrorism. He landed in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania, where he lives in a $10 million guarded compound. There are over 200 Gulen schools across the United States, named after birds, butterflies, and rainbows. The Oklahoma City Gulen Dove Academy stands to see an increase of $9,144,825 if it qualifies for Stan's tax giveaway, and could pay for added security for the Fethullah.
   The giant jackpot winner may be Epic Blended Learning Charter, as it stands to realize  (11,881.78 ADM x 1,756.76 x 1.5 = $31,310,152) + (11,881.78 x 1.5 x 83.95 x 20 = $29,924,262) = $61,234,414 for the Epic profiteers if SB 153 becomes law. The $2,000 investment to Stanislawski's senate campaign has served the profiteers well.
   The real losers (if Stanislawski's bill passes) will be Oklahoma traditional public school students, as almost $160,000,000 could be taken from our students operational funds, in order to pay for some corporate charter buildings. A traditional public school with 1,000 weighted students could lose more than $5 million in state aid... and the tax dollar hemorrhage continues.
Update! February 22, 2019: Senator Stanislawski, our old school consolidation friend and advocate for more money to his corporate bosses, has lowered the factor used to calculate charter school building money from 1.5 to .25... thinking it would have a better chance of passing the Senate Education Committee. For example, instead of funneling $61,234,414 in state funding to Epic Blended Learning Charter School using the 1.5 factor, the privately managed school will likely only receive $10,205,735. A total of only $25,000,000 in state aid could be diverted to charter schools' building purposes, and reduce the state aid going to traditional public schools by $25,000,000! Not much, right? A school with 2,000 students could lose $72,463.77 in state aid, the equivalent of two teachers. Quite a deal for Epic Blended...