Dozens of Oklahoma school districts sued the State Department of Education Monday for allegedly miscalculating the education funding formula for 22 years.
The lawsuit filed with the Oklahoma Supreme Court says counties that use a commercial and agricultural personal property tax assessment ratio above 11 percent can keep the extra revenue for the local school district.
Ponca City superintendent David Pennington, speaking on behalf of the underpaid districts, said that didn’t happen, and the state distributed that money to other schools.
“Because the taxpayers funds were diverted, the educational experiences that taxpayers sought to provide for children in our school districts has not been available,” Pennington said. “It is estimated that more than 150 school districts and hundreds of thousands of student have been negatively impacted.”
Now, Pennington wants the state education department to recalculate state aid for all fiscal years between 1993 and 2014, collect the money from overpaid districts, and redistribute the money to underpaid schools.
“Our intention is not to harm any other district. But, again, it’s an issue of fairness,” Pennington said. “Our taxpayers paid their taxes and they paid higher taxes to provide better experiences for our school children.”
Pennington estimates Ponca City was underpaid by $13 million and Oklahoma City by $40 million.
A spokesperson says the Department of Education does not comment on pending litigation.
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