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53	53	STATE OF OKLAHOMA
54	54
55	55	2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
56	56
57	57	SENATE BILL 1270 By: Standridge
58	58
59	59
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63	63	AS INTRODUCED
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65	65	An Act relating to scholarships; creating the
66	66	Education Freedom Act; providing short title;
67	67	creating the Education Freedom Program; providing
68	68	purpose; providing definition; allowing certain
69	69	parents and legal guardians to request a n Education
70	70	Freedom Program scholarship; establishing
71	71	requirements for scholarship; requiring certain
72	72	parents and legal guardians to assume certain
73	73	financial responsibility; providing for notification
74	74	if certain acceptance is pending space ava ilability;
75	75	establishing eligibility criteria for private school
76	76	participation; providing for calculation of
77	77	scholarship amount; providing immunity from liability
78	78	for certain entities based on the use or award of
79	79	certain funds; prohibiting the expansion of certain
80	80	regulatory authority ov er private schools; providing
81	81	for codification; providing an effective date; and
82	82	declaring an emergency.
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84	84
85	85
86	86
87	87	BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
88	88	SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
89	89	in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 28 -101 of Title 70, unless there
90	90	is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
91	91	A. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Education
92	92	Freedom Act".
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144	144	B. There is hereby created the Education Freedom Program to
145	145	provide a scholarship to a private school of choic e that meets the
146	146	requirements of subse ction F of this section for an eligible
147	147	student. For the purposes of this section, "eligible student" means
148	148	a resident of the state in a county having more than one hundred
149	149	twenty thousand (120,000) population according to the latest Federal
150	150	Decennial Census and who is between the ages of five (5) years on or
151	151	before September 1 and twenty -one (21) years on or before September
152	152	1.
153	153	C. 1. Beginning with the 2022 -2023 school year, the parent or
154	154	legal guardian of an eligibl e student may exercise their parental
155	155	option and request to have an Education Freedom Program scholarship
156	156	awarded for an eligible student to enroll in and attend a private
157	157	school. The scholarship shall be awarded if the parent or legal
158	158	guardian has obtained acceptance for admission of an eli gible
159	159	student to a private school that meets the r equirements of
160	160	subsection F of this section and has notified the State Department
161	161	of Education of the request for a scholarship. Requests to
162	162	participate in the Program made after December 1 shall be grante d,
163	163	but funding for scholarships requested after De cember 1 shall not be
164	164	available until the beginning of the next school year. The request
165	165	shall be through a communication directly to the State Department of
166	166	Education in a manner that creates a written or electronic record of
167	167	the request and the date of the receipt of the request. The
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219	219	Department shall notify the eligible student 's resident district, as
220	220	defined in Section 1 -113 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, of
221	221	the request.
222	222	2. For purposes of conti nuity of educational choice, the
223	223	scholarship shall remain in force until the eligible student returns
224	224	to a public school, graduates from high school , or reaches the age
225	225	of twenty-one (21), whichever occurs first. At any time, the parent
226	226	or legal guardian of the eligible student may remove the student
227	227	from the private school and place the student in another private
228	228	school that meets the requirements of subsection F of this section
229	229	or place the student in a public schoo l.
230	230	D. Upon acceptance of an Education Freedom Program scholarship,
231	231	the parent or legal g uardian of the eligible student shall assume
232	232	full financial responsibility for the education of the eligible
233	233	student including but not limited to transportation to and from the
234	234	private school. The parent or legal guardian of the eligible
235	235	student shall sign a document releasing the student's resident
236	236	school district from all obligations to educate the eligible
237	237	student.
238	238	E. If a parent or legal guardian requests an Education Freedom
239	239	Program scholarship and the eligible student is accepted by a
240	240	private school pending the availability of a space for the student,
241	241	the parent or legal guardian shall notify the State Department of
242	242	Education before entering the private school an d before December 1
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294	294	to be eligible for the scholarship during the school year when a
295	295	space becomes available in the private school. If notification is
296	296	made after December 1, payment of the scholarship shall not begin
297	297	until the following school year.
298	298	F. To be eligible to partici pate in the Education Freedom
299	299	Program, a private school shall not ify the State Department of
300	300	Education of its intent to participate. The private school shall:
301	301	1. Meet the accreditation requirements set by the State Board
302	302	of Education or another accrediting assoc iation approved by the
303	303	State Board of Education. Th e State Department of Education shall
304	304	list on its website all accrediting associations approved by the
305	305	Board;
306	306	2. Demonstrate fiscal soundness by having been in operation f or
307	307	a minimum of one school year; and
308	308	3. Meet state and local health and safety laws and codes.
309	309	G. Provisions governing payment of an Education Freedom Program
310	310	scholarship shall be as follows:
311	311	1. The State Department of Education shall calculate the tota l
312	312	cost of all scholarships for all elig ible students in this state.
313	313	The State Department of Education shall then reserve or retain from
314	314	the total amount appropriated to the State Board of Education for
315	315	State Aid purposes and any other revenue available fo r allocation
316	316	for State Aid purposes the total cost for all scholarship payments;
317	317
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368	368	2. The maximum scholarship granted for an eligible student
369	369	shall be a calculated amount equivalent to the total State Aid
370	370	factors for the applicable school year multiplied by the grade
371	371	weight generated by the stud ent for the applicable school year. The
372	372	maximum scholarship amount shall be calculated by the State Board of
373	373	Education for each year the student is participating in the
374	374	Education Freedom Program;
375	375	3. The amount of th e scholarship shall be the amount calcu lated
376	376	in paragraph 2 of this subsection or the amo unt of tuition and fees
377	377	for the private school, whichever is less, minus five percent (5%)
378	378	of the scholarship amount, which shall be distributed to the
379	379	resident district of the eligible student. If the scholarship is
380	380	granted after the beginning of the sch ool year, the amount of the
381	381	scholarship shall be prorated to reflect the number of days
382	382	remaining in the current school year;
383	383	4. The State Department of Education sha ll notify the private
384	384	school of the amount of the scholarship within ten (10) days after
385	385	receiving the request for a scholarship, when the total State Aid
386	386	factors have been determined for the current fiscal year. The
387	387	initial payment shall be made after th e Department verifies
388	388	admission acceptance and enrollment of the eligible student.
389	389	Quarterly payments shall be made upon verification of continued
390	390	enrollment and attendance at the private school. Payment shall be
391	391	made by the Department with an individual warrant made payable to
392	392
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443	443	the parent or legal guardian of the eligible student and mailed by
444	444	the Department to the private school that the parent or legal
445	445	guardian chooses. The parent or legal guardian shall restrictively
446	446	endorse the warrant to the private school for deposit into the
447	447	account of the private school. The parent or legal guardian may not
448	448	designate any entity or individual associated with the private
449	449	school as the attorney in fact for the parent or legal guardian to
450	450	endorse a warrant. A parent or legal guardian who fails to comply
451	451	with this paragraph shall forfeit the scholarship ;
452	452	5. The State Department of Education shall not be responsible
453	453	for any additional costs associated with the education services
454	454	incurred by the private school for the eligible student including
455	455	the cost of teachers, equipment, and materials; and
456	456	6. The State Department of Education shall cross -check the list
457	457	of participating scholarship students with the public school
458	458	enrollments prior to each scholarship payment to a void duplication.
459	459	H. No liability shal l arise on the part of the state, the State
460	460	Board of Education, the State Department of Education , or a school
461	461	district based on the award or use of funds provided through the
462	462	Education Freedom Program.
463	463	I. The inclusion of private schools within options a vailable to
464	464	public school students in Oklahoma pursuant to this section shall
465	465	not expand the regulatory authority of the state or any school
466	466	district to impose any additional regulation of private schools
467	467
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518	518	beyond those reasonably necessary to enforce the re quirements
519	519	expressly set forth in this section.
520	520	J. The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules to
521	521	implement the provisions of this act.
522	522	SECTION 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 2022.
523	523	SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
524	524	of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
525	525	declared to exist, by reason whereof thi s act shall take effect and
526	526	be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
527	527
528	528	58-2-2321 EB 1/13/2022 10:41:09 AM

Oklahoma 2022 Regular Session

Oklahoma Senate Bill SB1270 Compare Versions