EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES April 16, 2003 8:00 A.M. Oklahoma State Capitol Building Conference Room 412 A Oklahoma City, OK 73105 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Pete Churchwell, Kenneth Bridges, Ron Dryden Ed Long, Don McCorkell, Sen. Penny Williams BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Gerald Dickerson, Karen Yarbrough, Rep. Barbara Staggs OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Matt Hesser, Jerry Hsieh, Leonard Hall VISITORS: Jeff Packham - Capitol News Room Call to Order and Roll Call: Mr. Churchwell called the meeting to order at 8:10 am and declared a quorum present. Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the February 19, 2003 meeting were approved as submitted. Report of FY 2003 Expenditures: Report was distributed to board members, with discussion from Mr. Buswell. Mr. Buswell said that things would be tight, but he felt that the office would be able to finish the fiscal year without problems. There was a short discussion about saving money in the printing of documents for next year. There were no additional questions regarding the budget. Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program: Dr. Hall gave an update on the progress of the school performance review for Billings public schools. He stated that five RFP's had come into Central Purchasing and that an independent selection committee using a scoring process would choose the winning bidder. He stated that last school year there were three districts that exceeded the limit on administrative costs, Swink - 35 students, Leonard - 76 students, and Billings - 138. Billings is the only K-12 of the three and has the most students. Dr. Hall indicated that it wouldn't be cost effective to try and review all three districts before the end of June because the three districts are scattered across the state. The board asked to receive a summary of the winning bid proposal and a copy of the RFP. The board then asked Mr. Hall some questions about Enid requesting a review. Mr. Hall said that things were still progressing and that it was still a possibility, but not before the end of the fiscal year. Enid receiving a review, if it were to be requested, would be contingent upon renewed funding of the program in FY 2004. There was also discussion about changing the wording of the law to make it easier for schools to request reviews and to not require schools to cover 25% of the cost. Senator Long made a motion that if the program is funded for FY-2004 that the EOB be prepared to commit appropriate dollars to the districts of Mid-Del, Altus, Lawton, McAlester, or Enid, (districts with possible base closures) if the districts can cover their 25% of the cost. The motion passed unanimously. Report on the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Buswell showed the board the new report covers and artwork for Profiles 2002. He then stated that the office hoped to get increased interest in the Profiles material by displaying posters and setting out mailers at other state agencies. Mr. Hesser then handed out excerpts from the Profiles 2002 State Report. He announced that the 2000 census data was available at the school district level and would be used in the 2002 reports. He asked the board if they were comfortable with pointing out districts and schools whose numbers are at the extremes for each of the indicators analyzed in the report. He pointed out that the state dropout rate had dropped, however, student attrition had remained the same. Mr. Hesser had graphed the historical scores on the CRT tests that showed how performance has moved up and down over time and shared them with the board. The EOB also looked at the number of schools meeting the board's 70% performance benchmark, dropout rates, attrition rates, and graduation rates. Mr. Hesser alerted the board that some of the federal reports that are used as data sources have yet to be updated this year, and therefore, some of the previous year's data would have to be recycled. Report on New Legislation: Mr. Churchwell asked Senator Williams to update the board on new legislation. Senator William's spoke about several bills that relate to the state's testing program. Senator Williams indicated that there had been discussions about discontinuing or combining several of the current tests (History, Geography, Arts, etc.) and voiced her reluctance to drop any subject area currently being tested until a more effective assessment process for those subject areas could be implemented. Mr. McCorkell said that accountability was a bridge between public education and private business and the community at large. He also felt that it was not out-of-line to say to the State Chamber that this board has been holding education accountable in this state in an effort to create a quality education system and that the EOB needs the backing of a responsible business community to help with that goal. He thought that it was important that the EOB communicate its disappointment with the State Chamber's efforts to tie the hands of state government by wanting a pledge of no new taxes when trying to deal with the current funding crisis. Mr. Churchwell volunteered to talk with the State Chamber about the issue. Mr. Churchwell went on to talk about Representative Staggs' bill to close the Office of Accountability and how the bill was voted down in the House Common Education Committee. Mr. Churchwell was disturbed by the fact that there were individuals in the Legislature and in the education community that feel there is no value to the reports put out by the board. Mr. Churchwell thought that it was like saying there was no value in seeing audited financial statements because it's the same data that has already been released in the budget. Mr. Churchwell expressed that he had not seen any reports put out by the SDE that analyze the condition of education in Oklahoma the way the Office of Accountability's reports do. Report on Interim Study Committee on HR-1, the No Child Left Behind Act: Mr. Buswell reported that the US Department of Education had instructed the State Department of Education to breakdown the API by subject area tested and that the SDE would be making changes and would then resubmit. New Business: There was no new business. Announcements: None Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m. The minutes of the April 16, 2003 Meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved as submitted on September 16, 2003.