The Ponca City Board of Education held their regular monthly meeting on Monday, Feb. 13 at 6 pm. Judy Throop called the meeting to order.

The meeting began with the presentation of the Employee of the Month and Friend of Education awards. Certified Employee of the Month was Woodlands Elementary third grade teacher Ashley Magnus; Support Employee of the Month was Dan Gehring with the IT Department at Po-Hi; and the Friend of Education was Tony Coleman.

Following the presentations, Superintendent Shelley Arrott provided a legislative update. Arrott took a moment to share some important dates for the legislature: - The first session of the 59th Legislature began on Monday, Feb. 6 - Thursday, March 2 will be the day that bills must be through committees - Thursday, March 23 is the day that bills must be through the first House of Origin - Thursday, April 13 is when bills must be through committees of the opposite house - Thursday, April 27 is when bills must be heard in the opposite house - Friday, May 26 is the last day of the 59th Legislature.

Governor Kevin Stitt outlined three major points in his State of the State address, one of which was driving excellence in education with parent choice of schools. Gov. Stitt also restated his executive budget in the same speech including $130 million for education savings accounts, $50 million increase for performance based pay raises for teachers commonly known as merit pay, $100 million for an innovative school fund to help more schools like the Aviation Academy in Norman, $100 million for a reading initiative fund including fund- ing for training teachers in the science of reading, and $500,000 for concurrent enrollment so high schoolers can earn college credits more easily.

Arrott also shared some legislative hot topics for educational leaders including education savings accounts, which are private school or homeschool vouchers; teacher recruitment and retention; student innovative programs; and inflationary costs for fuel, food, materials, and projects.

Arrott also shared some information with the board on why public school advocates are against any kind of vouchers. There is a pot of money at the Oklahoma State Department of Education that goes toward common eduction, however, there is no recoupment process for any amount of money pulled out of that sum. Arrott stated that there can be mechanisms within these voucher bills to help recoup funds for rural schools and counties where there are no private schools.

Another reason that public school advocates are opponents of vouchers is the lack of accountability for private schools. Public dollars require accountability and private schools have very few regulations. As such, public educators would like private schools to be held to the same level of accountability.

Public school advocates also cite that any child can attend a public school, whereas private school can cap their number of students or deny those with special needs.

Arrott then shared information from the Senate Education Committee.

SB 16 requires the State Board of Education to establish a twoyear pilot program to provide grants to public school districts to provide childcare to school district employees.

SB 27 requires every school district to undergo a risk and vulnerability assessment conducted by the Oklahoma School Security Institute by July 1, 2026. It will require the assessment and include recommendations to increase security on school district property.

SB 358 would expand the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship program. This program was developed several years ago to help students on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or with special needs to go to a private school. This expansion would authorize vouchers for children in permanent custody of the State of Oklahoma or a recognized tribe to receive a voucher for the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship.

SB 467 creates the Interstate Teacher Mobility Compact Act. This act facilitates the mobility of teachers to expedite and enhance the ability of teachers to move across state lines.

SB 822 is currently not on the agenda as of yet, but it would create the Oklahoma Education Freedom Act and the Oklahoma Education Freedom Account Program to be administered by the office of the State Treasurer to provide vouchers for private school and homeschool experiences. This bill is noted to be similar to SB 1647, which was narrowly defeated in last year’s session.

In the House Committee this week, they will be looking at HB 2162.

HB 2162 would increase minimum salary schedule for teachers from 25 steps to 35 steps.

HB 2358 would exempt school districts from class size penalties if they exceeded in kindergarten and first grade.

HB 2675 would create a task force to study and make recommendations to modernize high school graduation requirements including four required math credits and four required science credits.

The Board approved a resolution determining the maturities of, and setting a date, time and place for the sale of the $17,400,000 General Obligation Building Bonds of the School District. The bonds were recommenced to be sold on Sunday, May 28, 2023 at noon. Bids will be due 30 minutes before the scheduled time of the board meeting to sell the bonds.

The Board approved an agreement for bond counsel services with Floyd & Driver, P.L.L.C., Attorneys at Law.

The Board approved the Ponca City School District Calendar for the 2023-2024 school year.

The Board approved declaring March 2, 2023 as “Read Across America Day” in Ponca City Public Schools (PCPS). Read Across America Day is held annually on the first day of school closest to March 2. This coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss.

The Board approved naming Erika Johnson, finance intern for PCPS, as the Deputy Minutes Clerk and Assistant Treasurer.

The Board also approved a revision of the Board Policy 3.23.0 to change the name from Curtis Layton to Jennifer Dye, Executive Director of Human Resources/TLE.

The Board then considered and took action on several contracts agreements, approving the following: - Millwork bid package from Rick Scott Construction PC, LLC on the Liberty Elementary Renovation Project. The Millwork package was rebid with Rick Scott Construction PC, LLC being the lowest bidder for $186,536. The GMP is now $1,487,071.63. The total project is still under budget.

- An agreement with Burgess Company for operable partitions for the Anderson STEM Renovation Project. Burgess Company submitted the low bid for Operable Partitions on the Anderson STEM Renovation Project in the amount of $105,357. The construction GMP remains unchanged at $6,935,897.

- Approval for softball improvement recommendations report. Base bid GMP of $1,794,000.09. The district is rejecting Alternate 1 which is a deduction of $58,637. The vote on this item was separate from the others with four votes for approval, and one vote against.

- Approval for the Howell Restroom Renovation Project. The total bid was $426,147 plus one additional quote for $36,430 for toilet partitions and accessories.

- An agreement with Total Com, Inc. to install new radios and antennas in new buses. This total includes service call charges, and the contract amount is $10,982.35 and comes from the General Fund.

- A contract with Village Travel for the orchestra, chorale and band students to travel to a concert venue. Village Travel will provide three deluxe motorcoaches for the students to travel from Po-Hi to Branson, MO to perform at a concert venue.

- Agreement with Explorica Travel for a trip to Japan for July 2024 and a trip to Germany, France, and Spain for July 2025. Paige Marsh and Molly Carter submitted requests to the Curriculum Committee for an Explorica trip to Japan in July 2024 and a trip to Germany, France, and Spain for July 2025. The Board’s approval allows the sponsors to facilitate multiple fundraising opportunities for the travel participants based on the level of need/desire for fundraising as expressed by participants and/or their parents. No district funds will be spent, with the possible exception of substitute pay for the teacher sponsors.

The Board then took action on the following change orders on the Lincoln Elementary Renovation Project, the Po-Hi Commons Remodel Project, and the Howell Restroom Renovation Project.