New Statewide Charter School Board receives first application for state authorization,
Doubles size of its Horizon program
The Statewide Charter School Board meets in a special meeting at 1 p.m. Monday, August 12. In addition to consideration and possible action on a June 25, 2024, ruling of the Oklahoma Supreme Court regarding recission of the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School Charter contract, significant items on the Board’s agenda include:
1. Presentation of its first application for state authorization and from one of the five charter school districts currently sponsored by Oklahoma City Public Schools, Western Gateway. The process for potential state authorization begins Monday with a formal presentation by the school. It will be followed with Board staff conducting a site visit to the school later this month, a formal evaluation of the application, and a staff recommendation to the Board at or after the Board’s September meeting. If authorized by the Board, Western Gateway would no longer pay a percentage of its state aid to OKCPS for a sponsorship/authorization fee and its oversight would transfer to the Statewide Charter School Board. The Board does not levy authorization fees.
2. Horizon, its supplemental online learning platform, has experienced dramatic growth. Horizon served less than 100 school districts last year but will serve about 200 districts in the 2024-2025 school year. It has two primary functions. It offers at no charge 23 high-quality online AP courses, as well as pre-AP courses, with a certified Oklahoma teacher of record. Its other function is to provide hundreds of other academic, virtual courses at below-market rates through state-aligned providers like Edmentum, Imagine Edgenuity and Reading Eggs. State law requires school districts to provide a supplementary, online course if a student requests it in a subject not offered by their school in a traditional format. Horizon allows school districts to meet this mandate, dramatically expand their course offerings at low cost and better align to each student’s post-graduation goals. Smaller districts, in particular, report Horizon better allows them to offer advanced courses; electives like forensic science, cosmetology, robotics, accounting, and art; and foreign languages for which fewer students enroll like French, German and Latin.
Click here to access the full agenda for the Board’s Aug. 12 meeting.
