Unreleased report says state funding more than $800 million short

OKLAHOMA CITY — A controversial education study — completed in 2005 but never officially released by the Oklahoma Legislature — paints a dismal picture of state education funding and calls for an influx of more than $800 million in new spending, The Transcript has learned.

Commissioned in 2004, and completed at a cost of $150,230 in April of 2005, the two-part study by Colorado-based Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, was prepared for the Legislative Service Bureau — a state office controlled by the Oklahoma House of Representatives and the Oklahoma State Senate.

The first part of the study, which cost $32,930, was released in November of 2004. That report examined the spending of school districts which successfully met state performance standards.

The second report of the study — entitled “Calculating the Cost of an Adequate Education in Oklahoma,” — analyzed the “adequacy of revenues available to elementary and secondary school districts in Oklahoma” for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.

That portion of the report — finished in April of 2005 but never released — cost $117,300 and says state per-student spending should be increased to almost $7,000 to “ensure school districts have a reasonable chance” to meet state and federal student performance expectations.

Those extra funds, documents show, would amount to more than $844 million.

Records indicate Oklahoma allocated $5,622 per student in education spending for the 2003-2004 fiscal year; during that time, about 618,000 students attended Oklahoma public schools.

But that $5,622 figure, the study said, is $1,367 shy of the amount needed for schools to reach an “adequacy level” — a level which funds “base services” to all kindergarten through 12th grade students and covers additional costs for serving students with special needs — that is, special education, at-risk, and English as a Second Language (ESL) services.

And while some officials say the document is proof the state’s education system is drastically underfunded, others downplay the report and question its data.

Either way, few have seen the second document.

“The study just reinforces the Governor’s view that we have to put more resources in the classroom,” said Paul Sund, a spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry.

Sund confirmed officials in Henry’s office had read the study earlier this year, but only after being shown the study by a television news reporter.

But Lt. Gov. Jari Askins — a member of the House of Representatives in 2004 — said she never saw the study, as did State Superintendent of Public Instruction Sandy Garrett.

“No. That Augenblick study was never made available to me,” Garrett said. “I have not seen it and I don’t think it was released to anyone else.”

Former House Speaker Todd Hiett, who served as House leader during the time the study was completed, did not return phone calls from The Transcript. However, Damon Gardenhire, a spokesman for current House Speaker Lance Cargill, claimed the study’s second part was released.

“I checked, and in fact, the study was made available,” Gardenhire wrote in an e-mail.

Developed using a “professional judgment” approach, the Augenblick study used panels of educators and education service providers to “specify the resources needed” for a hypothetical group of different sized schools and districts.

Forty-four school officials — including Bartlesville physics teacher Granger Meador, who testified Tuesday at a House hearing on merit pay — participated in the study.

Meador said he was disappointed the study was never released. “I was very frustrated,” he said. “But I did get a copy about a year ago.”

Written using data taken from three different panels, the “professional judgment approach is particularly useful” in examining the future costs of schools and districts in meeting state performance standards, Augenblick officials said.

“Oklahoma, like many states uses a ‘foundation-type’ formula as the basis for allocating a majority of the state’s aid to school districts,” the study said. “Under a foundation approach, the state typically determines a fixed amount of revenue per student — the foundation level.”

But those officials say the ‘foundation style’ of funding doesn’t include the state and federal school performance expectations and, because of that, schools don’t receive the funds necessary to properly educate students.

“In many states — including Oklahoma — the determination of the foundation level is based primarily on the total revenue available and does not take into account the state and federal expectations for district and school performance,” the study said. “Such a method for determining the foundation does not reflect the level of resources needed to fully implement standards-based reform.”

And though Henry’s office said the study underscored the governor’s call for increased education funding, Gardenhire questioned the report’s validity.

“Other studies reach different conclusions,” Gardenhire said. “And other states are experiencing fiscal problems because of similarly flawed studies by Augenblick.” Gardenhire added the study’s conclusions were “questionable at best since the firm (Augenblick) was clearly a tool of the NEA.”

Other education leaders disagree.

Oklahoma Education Association president Roy Bishop said the study confirms why the teacher’s union recently sued then-House Speaker Hiett and Senate Pro Tempore Mike Morgan.

“Not releasing the second study sends a terrible message to the people of Oklahoma,” Bishop said. “It says that our legislative leaders don’t want the public to see this because they have not funded our educational system adequately.”

Bishop said lawmakers withheld the study “because of the huge amount” of money involved.

“There’s an agenda out there to make sure taxes are cut and to reduce growth revenue and this study would have put a serious issue on the table for discussion and they don’t want to deal with that.”

Bishop also criticized claims that both parts of the study had been released.

“I don’t believe that,” he said. “If they were out there, why wouldn’t they bring them up? Why bury it? Why hide it?”