Educators: Land Commission Deal Causes Concern
Oklahoma school leaders are upset over Land Commission bill
By Randy Ellis
Oil and gas companies that are delinquent in making certain royalty payments would retain millions of dollars at the expense of Oklahoma schoolchildren under a bill expected to be heard Wednesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
During the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Oklahoma’s kindergarten to 12th-grade schools would have received about $5.5 million less and higher education institutions would have received about $1.5 million less if the bill by state Sen. Anthony Sykes, R-Moore, had been law, said Harry Birdwell, secretary of the Commissioners of the Land Office.
Norman Schools Superintendent Joe Siano said of Senate Bill 1966, “We’re opposed to it. … This seems like another ill-timed bill as it pertains to public schools.”
Siano said Norman schools would have lost about $115,000 so far this fiscal year if the bill were law.