Oklahoma’s New Charter School Board to Meet for Nation’s First Private Charter School

Oklahoma’s new school board, charged with overseeing the future contract for the nation’s first private charter school, meets July 8.

The Statewide Charter School Board will oversee nearly half of Oklahoma’s charter schools. It was created to consolidate and remove oversight duties from the state Department of Education and the Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter Board.

Charter schools are publicly funded and independently operated. They are accredited by the state Department of Education but are exempt from certain requirements. For example, they can hire teachers without a valid state teaching credential.

Oklahoma lawmakers created the new board following problems with schools overseen by the state’s virtual board of trustees and the state Board of Education.

Eight of the nine members were appointed:

• The three appointees appointed by Governor Kevin Stitt are Brian Shellem, Angie Thomas and Kathleen White.
• Senator pro tempore Greg Treat nominated Damon Gardenhire and Becky Gooch.
• House Speaker Charles McCall has named one of his two nominees, Jared Buswell.
• Kitty Campbell was appointed by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd.
• The last member announced is State Superintendent Ryan Walters.

Their first order of business is to discuss the nation’s first private Catholic charter school, St. Isidore’s. On June 25, the Oklahoma Supreme Court declared the school unconstitutional for improperly mixing church and state.

The court ordered the termination of St. Isidore’s contract, but that has not yet happened. According to the agenda for the first meeting, the board will meet in camera to discuss the contract.

This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help us support collaborative journalism by donating through the link at the top of this webpage.