EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES September 20, 2006 - 09:00 A.M. Room 412A State Capitol Building Oklahoma City, OK 73105 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Gerald Dickerson, Patrick Gilmore, Susan Field, Pat Mayes, Sen. Susan Paddack, and Rep. Odilia Dank BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: None OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Matt Hesser, Jerry Hsieh, and Dan Craig VISITORS: Jeff Packham – Journal Record Call to Order and Roll Call: Mr. Dickerson called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and declared a quorum present. Approval of Minutes: Mrs. Field made a motion to approve the minutes of the May 12, 2006 meeting. Mr. Mays seconded the motion and it was accepted unanimously. Election of New Officers: Mr. Mayes nominated Mr. Dickerson to be Chairman, Mr. Gilmore seconded the nomination. There being no other nominations, the Board voted unanimously to have Mr. Dickerson serve as Chairman. Mr. Gilmore then nominated Mrs. Field as Vice Chairman with Mr. Mayes seconding the motion. There were no further nominations and Mrs. Field was voted into the position without dissent. Approval of Proclamation of Appreciation for Mr. Ron Dryden: Mrs. Field made a motion to award Mr. Ron Dryden an EOB Proclamation of Appreciation for his long service to the Board. Mr. Mayes seconded the motion and it passed enthusiastically, and without opposition. Status Report on the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Hesser informed the Board that more than 270 sets of the Profiles 2005 documents had been boxed and distributed to Oklahoma public libraries and other interested parties. He also indicated that the Profiles 2005 press release had received coverage in virtually every news paper published in Oklahoma. Mr. Hsieh then distributed a graph showing that more than 1 million of the Profiles documents had been downloaded from the O of A website since its launch in 1989 and that, if current trends continue, more than 500,000 of the documents will be downloaded during the 2006 calendar year. Based on the results of a survey that internet users complete and by the time of the day that the Profiles reports were downloaded, Mr. Hsieh was confident that the overwhelming majority of the documents were being requested by parents. Mr. Buswell then apprised the Board of a few presentations that he had made to promote the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program. One was to an Oklahoma-based Native American advocacy group, another was to the Oklahoma Center for School Business Management, and the third was to a class at the University of Oklahoma titled "School in American Education." Mr. Hesser then mentioned that numerous copies of the electronic version of the Profiles 2005 database had been distributed and that several other data requests had been filled including one to SREB. Hesser indicated that the Profiles 2005 cycle was coming to a close and that the process of gathering data for Profiles 2006 had already begun. The annual data request had already been sent to the State Department of Education and data requests would be sent later in September to the other state agencies involved in the process. Status Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program (OSPR): Mr. Craig briefed the Board on OSPR's progress. He explained that staff had been working hard to get the Wewoka and Little Axe reviews finalized and were deep into the editing process of the Clinton report. He also discussed the upcoming reviews at Broken Bow, Idabel, Frederick, Wynnewood, and Springer and named the vendors that were awarded those contracts. Craig reminded the Board that a number of schools had expressed interest in receiving a review and that several were only waiting for the release of the new API scores in the hope that the review could then be funded 100% by OSPR. End-of-Year Expenditure Report for FY 2006: Mr. Buswell distributed a detailed spreadsheet to the Board that outlined the expenditures for the year ending June 30, 2006 and remaining funds. Buswell walked the Board through the major expenditure areas and answered member's questions. Approval of Revised Budget for FY 2007 and Year-to-Date Expenditure Report: Buswell then circulated a report which compared the FY 2007 Budget with his suggested revisions, on an item by item basis. Included in the revised budget was funding for a second Coordinator position for the Oklahoma Performance Review Program for the second half of the fiscal year. Buswell also noted that with the increased number of reviews came increases in employee travel, printing charges, and consultant fees. After a short discussion by the Board, Mrs. Field made a motion to approve the revised FY2007 budget. Mr. Gilmore seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Buswell then advised the Board on year-to-date expenditures. After accounting for fixed cost items and anticipated expenditures, Buswell was confident that the Office would have adequate carryover into the next fiscal year. Approval of Budget Request for FY 2008: Buswell directed members to the section of the handouts that dealt with his recommendation for the budget request amount for FY 2008. Buswell advised the board that the budget request included an increase to annualize the costs for the new Coordinator position and to cover costs related to an expanded Performance Review Program. Mrs. Field made a motion to approve the Budget Request for FY 2008, Mr. Gilmore seconded the motion and it passed unopposed. Approval of Personnel Policies for the Office of Accountability: In that the Board had the opportunity to review the proposed policies in advance of the meeting, Buswell asked if there were any questions or comments. Mr. Mayes had the Board look at sections 2-1-1 and 2-1-2 of the Office of Accountability's Employee Handbook. Mr. Mayes suggested that those sections be made to read that new candidate searches be conducted both internally and externally, simultaneously. Mr. Mayes was of the opinion that any organization should make every effort to find the person most qualified to fit the open position, regardless of whether they had worked as part of the organization in the past, or not. Mr. Gilmore made a motion to adopt the policy manual with the suggested modifications, Mrs. Field seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Setting of 2007 Meeting Dates: Mrs. Field made a motion to have the meetings the third Wednesday of every month, excluding the months of June and July, and with the exception of March, during which the meeting would be held the second Wednesday. The meeting times would be 9:00 am, except for the months of February through May, for which the meeting times would be 8:00 am to accommodate legislators while the Oklahoma Legislature is in session. Mr. Mayes seconded the motion and the Board voted unanimously to approve the calendar for 2007. Mr. Gilmore then asked Mr. Buswell if he though there would be any action items on next months meeting agenda. Mr. Buswell did not think that anything would require Board approval on the October agenda. Mr. Gilmore made a motion to cancel the October, 18, 2006 EOB meeting. Mr. Mayes seconded the motion and it carried without dissention. New Business: None Announcements: None Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:49 a.m. The minutes of the September 20, 2006 meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved as submitted on November 16, 2006.