OKLAHOMA CITY – A bill that could have directed taxpayer dollars to private and parochial schools failed narrowly in the Oklahoma state Senate last week, dividing Republicans largely along urban-rural lines.
SB 1647, known as the “Oklahoma Empowerment Act,” would have created Educational Savings Accounts, or ESAs, that followed students wherever they chose to enroll and could be spent on various educational expenses, including private school tuition.
Sponsored by Senate Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, SB 1647 was championed by some conservatives who said it would provide an off-ramp for students trapped in underperforming public schools. Gov. Kevin Stitt was among the bill’s biggest supporters.
Public school officials, Democrats and many rural Republicans objected to the bill, including Blaine County’s representation. Sen. Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher, voted against the bill last Wednesday night when it narrowly died in a 22-24 vote on the Senate floor.
The vote was held open for about two hours, with some senators changing their minds before the final tally.
SB 1647 opponents argued that ESAs are just vouchers by another name, and that they would funnel money away from public education to wealthy schools and families.
The ESAs would have been worth about $3,600 per year, which opponents pointed out is not enough to cover tuition costs at many Oklahoma private schools.
In many rural Oklahoma communities, the local public school is the only out-ofhome option for students; homeschoolers were not included in the final version of the bill. This reality fueled the opposition from rural Republicans, including House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, who vowed not to consider the bill if it made it to his chamber.
In the end, it didn’t come to that.
Watonga Superintendent Kyle Hilterbran told the Watonga Republican he opposed the bill, saying that private schools are not held to the same testing and admissions standards as public schools and therefore should not be receiving public funds.
Last year, state lawmakers passed an open-transfer law that required districts to accept as many transfer students as they have the capacity for. McCall argued the open-transfer rule provides adequate choice for all Oklahoma students, for now.
Watonga’s state Rep. Mike Dobrinski, R-Okeene, was among the legislators who celebrated the defeat of SB 1647, saying on Facebook he was “proud” of Jech and rural senators for “standing up” for rural public schools.
For his part, Treat said the fight for greater school choice is not over and will come back up in future sessions. “We’re going to continue to fight,” he said after SB 1647 failed. “Nothing’s over, ever, in this building. Parents need to be empowered.”