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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
2nd Session of the 58th Legislature (2022)
SENATE BILL 1270 By: Standridge
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to scholarships; creating the
Education Freedom Act; providing short title;
creating the Education Freedom Program; providing
purpose; providing definition; allowing certain
parents and legal guardians to request a n Education
Freedom Program scholarship; establishing
requirements for scholarship; requiring certain
parents and legal guardians to assume certain
financial responsibility; providing for notification
if certain acceptance is pending space ava ilability;
establishing eligibility criteria for private school
participation; providing for calculation of
scholarship amount; providing immunity from liability
for certain entities based on the use or award of
certain funds; prohibiting the expansion of certain
regulatory authority ov er private schools; providing
for codification; providing an effective date; and
declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 28 -101 of Title 70, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Education
Freedom Act".
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B. There is hereby created the Education Freedom Program to
provide a scholarship to a private school of choic e that meets the
requirements of subse ction F of this section for an eligible
student. For the purposes of this section, "eligible student" means
a resident of the state in a county having more than one hundred
twenty thousand (120,000) population according to the latest Federal
Decennial Census and who is between the ages of five (5) years on or
before September 1 and twenty -one (21) years on or before September
1.
C. 1. Beginning with the 2022 -2023 school year, the parent or
legal guardian of an eligibl e student may exercise their parental
option and request to have an Education Freedom Program scholarship
awarded for an eligible student to enroll in and attend a private
school. The scholarship shall be awarded if the parent or legal
guardian has obtained acceptance for admission of an eli gible
student to a private school that meets the r equirements of
subsection F of this section and has notified the State Department
of Education of the request for a scholarship. Requests to
participate in the Program made after December 1 shall be grante d,
but funding for scholarships requested after De cember 1 shall not be
available until the beginning of the next school year. The request
shall be through a communication directly to the State Department of
Education in a manner that creates a written or electronic record of
the request and the date of the receipt of the request. The
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Department shall notify the eligible student 's resident district, as
defined in Section 1 -113 of Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, of
the request.
2. For purposes of conti nuity of educational choice, the
scholarship shall remain in force until the eligible student returns
to a public school, graduates from high school , or reaches the age
of twenty-one (21), whichever occurs first. At any time, the parent
or legal guardian of the eligible student may remove the student
from the private school and place the student in another private
school that meets the requirements of subsection F of this section
or place the student in a public schoo l.
D. Upon acceptance of an Education Freedom Program scholarship,
the parent or legal g uardian of the eligible student shall assume
full financial responsibility for the education of the eligible
student including but not limited to transportation to and from the
private school. The parent or legal guardian of the eligible
student shall sign a document releasing the student's resident
school district from all obligations to educate the eligible
student.
E. If a parent or legal guardian requests an Education Freedom
Program scholarship and the eligible student is accepted by a
private school pending the availability of a space for the student,
the parent or legal guardian shall notify the State Department of
Education before entering the private school an d before December 1
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to be eligible for the scholarship during the school year when a
space becomes available in the private school. If notification is
made after December 1, payment of the scholarship shall not begin
until the following school year.
F. To be eligible to partici pate in the Education Freedom
Program, a private school shall not ify the State Department of
Education of its intent to participate. The private school shall:
1. Meet the accreditation requirements set by the State Board
of Education or another accrediting assoc iation approved by the
State Board of Education. Th e State Department of Education shall
list on its website all accrediting associations approved by the
Board;
2. Demonstrate fiscal soundness by having been in operation f or
a minimum of one school year; and
3. Meet state and local health and safety laws and codes.
G. Provisions governing payment of an Education Freedom Program
scholarship shall be as follows:
1. The State Department of Education shall calculate the tota l
cost of all scholarships for all elig ible students in this state.
The State Department of Education shall then reserve or retain from
the total amount appropriated to the State Board of Education for
State Aid purposes and any other revenue available fo r allocation
for State Aid purposes the total cost for all scholarship payments;
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2. The maximum scholarship granted for an eligible student
shall be a calculated amount equivalent to the total State Aid
factors for the applicable school year multiplied by the grade
weight generated by the stud ent for the applicable school year. The
maximum scholarship amount shall be calculated by the State Board of
Education for each year the student is participating in the
Education Freedom Program;
3. The amount of th e scholarship shall be the amount calcu lated
in paragraph 2 of this subsection or the amo unt of tuition and fees
for the private school, whichever is less, minus five percent (5%)
of the scholarship amount, which shall be distributed to the
resident district of the eligible student. If the scholarship is
granted after the beginning of the sch ool year, the amount of the
scholarship shall be prorated to reflect the number of days
remaining in the current school year;
4. The State Department of Education sha ll notify the private
school of the amount of the scholarship within ten (10) days after
receiving the request for a scholarship, when the total State Aid
factors have been determined for the current fiscal year. The
initial payment shall be made after th e Department verifies
admission acceptance and enrollment of the eligible student.
Quarterly payments shall be made upon verification of continued
enrollment and attendance at the private school. Payment shall be
made by the Department with an individual warrant made payable to
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the parent or legal guardian of the eligible student and mailed by
the Department to the private school that the parent or legal
guardian chooses. The parent or legal guardian shall restrictively
endorse the warrant to the private school for deposit into the
account of the private school. The parent or legal guardian may not
designate any entity or individual associated with the private
school as the attorney in fact for the parent or legal guardian to
endorse a warrant. A parent or legal guardian who fails to comply
with this paragraph shall forfeit the scholarship ;
5. The State Department of Education shall not be responsible
for any additional costs associated with the education services
incurred by the private school for the eligible student including
the cost of teachers, equipment, and materials; and
6. The State Department of Education shall cross -check the list
of participating scholarship students with the public school
enrollments prior to each scholarship payment to a void duplication.
H. No liability shal l arise on the part of the state, the State
Board of Education, the State Department of Education , or a school
district based on the award or use of funds provided through the
Education Freedom Program.
I. The inclusion of private schools within options a vailable to
public school students in Oklahoma pursuant to this section shall
not expand the regulatory authority of the state or any school
district to impose any additional regulation of private schools
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beyond those reasonably necessary to enforce the re quirements
expressly set forth in this section.
J. The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules to
implement the provisions of this act.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 2022.
SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof thi s act shall take effect and
be in full force from and after its passage and approval.
58-2-2321 EB 1/13/2022 10:41:09 AM