Edmond Sun - 01/17/2018 Copy Reduced to 79% from original to fit letter page Page : A08

A8 | EDUCATION THE EDMOND SUN WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2018

Bill could provide districts more

flexibility in spending property taxes
BY JANELLE STECKLEIN “Sometimes schools feel provision like this in the Alicia Priest said in a state- Editor’s Note — for CNHI's newspapers and
CNHI STATE REPORTER like they have to spend it Constitution. This is hand- ment that her organiza- Janelle Stecklein covers websites. Reach her at
on stadium renovations, cuffing Oklahoma.” tion is monitoring the the Oklahoma Statehouse jstecklein@cnhi.com.
OKLAHOMA CITY — A maintenance or fixed Under current law, Small measure.
state lawmaker wants to costs. This might be an said about a third of a dis- “While it appears the bill
give school boards and opportunity to give the trict’s funds flow into the would provide school
superintendents more superintendents more building fund. The law administrators some flexi-
flexibility in how they can flexibility. That would free does not appear to change bility with where they
spend property taxes. them up to be able to do how bond funds — money spend their ad valorem
Under current law, dis- teacher salaries.” approved by voters to pay funds, it does not create
tricts must spend a certain While Brecheen for building or infrastruc- new revenue,” she said.
portion of their ad val- acknowledged similar ture improvements — are “That’s the real issue —
orem funds on capital measures have failed to spent, officials said. public schools are already
improvement projects like advance in the past, he That will allow more cutting everything from
school buildings, furni- believes now is the time to money to flow into class- personnel to classes.”
ture, equipment, comput- tackle school funding rooms or to teachers, he What schools need is
ers, telecommunication reform. said. additional funding, she
and utility costs, insurance But to do so would ulti- “This allows just a better added.
premiums or to pay the mately require and clearer understanding “(The) bill doesn’t make
salaries of security guards. Oklahomans to approve a and flexibility to use dol- the pie larger, it just allows
But state Sen. Josh change to the state lars where they’re need- it to be sliced differently,”
Brecheen, R-Coalgate, said Constitution on a future ed,” he said. Priest said.
local school district lead- election ballot, said Small said districts in
ers and technology centers Jonathan Small, president other states, which offer
should also have the of the Oklahoma Council higher teacher salaries,
option of spending those of Public Affairs. He sup- have less restrictions on
funds on operational costs ports the proposal. how to spend the property
— like teacher salaries and “There’s already pressure taxes. That allows them to
other needs. at the Capitol to not clut- better prioritize spending
“I just think it makes ter the ballot, but this is an and increase teacher pay
sense to give that local issue that can’t be ignored locally, he said.
superintendent more lati- anymore,” he said. “It’s Oklahoma Education
tude,” Brecheen said. unfortunate that there is a Association President

Griffith named to Dean's List

ST. LOUIS, Mo. —
Zachary Griffith of
Edmond has been named
to the Dean's List at
Fontbonne University.
Griffith, pursuing a
degree in Cybersecurity,
earned a grade point aver-
age of 3.7 or higher upon
completion of the 2017 fall
semester.
"At Fontbonne, we value
quality in all that we do,
and we are proud to rec-
ognize the academic
achievements of those stu-
dents whose work has
been acknowledged as
high quality by their facul-
ty," said Dr. Carey Adams,
vice president for academ-
ic affairs.
Fontbonne University is
a Catholic coeducational
institution of higher edu-
cation offering undergrad-
uate and graduate degrees.

Free developmental, autism screenings offered

OKLAHOMA CITY – gists as well as behav- will conduct the screen-
Rainbow Fleet and the ioral health specialists ings.
OU Health Science
Center are partnering to
offer free developmental
and autism screenings
for children ages 0-6.
The screenings will be
held Feb. 14 at Rainbow
Fleet, 3024 Paseo. To
schedule an appoint-
ment, call (405) 521-1426
or 1-800-438-0008.
Professionals will
Copyright (c)2018 Edmond Sun, Edition 01/17/2018
screen for autism
January 18, 2018and
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development in areas
including language, cog-
nitive, gross motor, fine