“School choice” bill passes OK house

SPRINGER, Okla. (KXII) - Tuesday the “School Choice” bill passed after a vote in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, but it’s not moving onto Governor Stitt’s desk just yet.

While Governor Stitt called it a major victory, critics of the bill have said giving tax credits to families attending private schools isn’t a great idea, especially for local schools.

“It’s a voucher bill with another name,” Springer Superintendent Scott Webb said.

The bill proposes tax credits based on income for families who are sending their students to private and charter schools, and even homeschooling.

Webb said some superintendents are worried about how this could affect public school budgets.

“It can push schools into having to make those kind of changes or lay off employees in order to continue to operate,” Webb said.

House speaker and local representative Charles McCall voted yes for the bill, but then gave notice that the house may want to redo the vote later on.

A press release stated McCall is holding on to the bill until the House and Senate can agree on a plan to fund public education.

“I think voucher bills are bad for small communities and that is my biggest concern,” Webb said. “Towns like Springer, Healdton, Elmore City, the schools will be one of the biggest if not the biggest employer in town. And when you start to funnel those funds away it will in the long run damage our small community.”

Webb said since Oklahoma has open transfer, school choice already exists.

“You can choose to send your child to any public school in the state,” Webb said. “If you choose to go to a private school I think it becomes the parent’s responsibility to pay that bill. We don’t pull money out of money collected for highway taxes to pay for redoing our driveway, so why would we pull money out that would go towards schools to pay for private school?”