This is what it looks like when one of the hungriest states in the nation experiences an economic crisis of historic proportions, when more than 154,000 Oklahomans have filed unemployment claims and thousands of jobs seemed to vanish overnight at hotels, restaurants and in the oil fields.
Epic virtual charter school has grown into one of the largest school systems in the state but it has also become one of the largest producers of transfers, sending thousands of students in and out of schools across Oklahoma throughout the academic year.
The confinement of inmates to their cells in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 has also meant the pause of classes for thousands of students in Oklahoma prisons who were working on degrees and vocational certificates.
Gov. Kevin Stitt will have nearly $40 million in emergency education stimulus funds to spend in the coming months and the state Department of Education would like him to focus on closing the digital divide, especially in rural communities.
“Our first priority right now are those seniors who are failing a class that they absolutely need to graduate,” said Greg Frederick, principal at U.S. Grant High School in south Oklahoma City.
If Gov. Stitt decides to use emergency stimulus funds on the Oklahoma private school scholarship tax credit program it might require more detailed reporting on where the scholarships go.
On Friday, Gov. Kevin Stitt said he may spend his education funds on the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship Act, which gives tax credits to individuals and corporations donating towards tuition for private school students.
While schools have made contact with most students during a shift to distance learning, thousands have been unreachable and are at risk of not having contact with a school for at least the next five months until buildings reopen.
