Oklahoma State Senate passes Bill to allow Local School Boards more control over carryover funds

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A bill authored by Oklahoma Senator Jessica Garvin R-Duncan has passed through State Senate. If passed, the bill would allow more flexibility and local control for School Boards on how they use their carryover funds.

Currently, the law on the books places a cap over how much carryover funds can be moved to the following year. If a school district exceeds that amount then they would face financial penalties from the state.

The new bill if passed would remove those caps allowing local school districts to add leftover funds to savings. “We must stop penalizing our local districts for being fiscally responsible and wanting to save unused general funds for essential future expenses,” Garvin said.

However, there would still be transparency with the state on how the leftover funds are used by local School Districts since the funds would need to be reported to the State Department of Education. The bill will be picked up in the house of representatives by Rep. Marcus McEntire, R-Duncan.