Oklahoma

Costing Out

Historical Background

In 1987, in Fair School Finance Council of Oklahoma v. State, 746 P.2d 1135 (1987), the Supreme Court of Oklahoma rejected an equal protection challenge to the state education finance system. The Court ruled that equal expenditures per child are not necessary to meet equal protection requirements.

In 1989, the Governor called a special session of the legislature in response to the landmark school finance decision in Kentucky. The legislature increased the state sales and income taxes to pay for the resulting plan, which reduced class size and raised teacher salaries.

On May 8, 2007, in Oklahoma Education Association v. State the Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed a trial court opinion that plaintiffs’ adequacy challenge presented a non-justiciable political question. The court concluded that “Questions of fiscal and educational policy are vested in the Legislature, and its wisdom in these areas is not within the scope of this Court’s review.”

Plaintiffs’ arguments relied on the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s words in Fair School Finance Council v. State, in which the Court rejected a claim for school funding equity but said that students still have a right to a “basic adequate education.”

Costing Out

While the state legislature has not released a 2005 costing-out study, the Oklahoma Education Association commissioned its own costing-out study, which found that the state needs to provide approximately $1 billion more in school operations funding and approximately $3 billion in facilities funding.

Last updated: February, 2008