EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES February 20, 2008, 8:00 A.M. Conference Room 412B (4th Floor)br> State Capitol Building Oklahoma City, OK 73105 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Field, Patrick Gilmore, Sherry Labyer, Ami Shaffer, Abby Holbrook, and Sen. Kathleen Wilcoxson BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Penny Williams, Sen. Judy Eason McIntyre, and Rep. Tad Jones OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Jeff Wallace, Jerry Hsieh, and Rick Cobb VISITORS: None Call to Order: Ms. Field called the meeting to order at 8:14 A.M. Introduction of board members and guests: All board members and staff introduced themselves. A welcome was extended to new Board member Abby Holbrook. Roll Call: The introductions served as roll call, Ms. Field declared a quorum to be present. Approval of Minutes: Mr. Gilmore made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 19, 2007 meeting. Ms. Labyer seconded the motion, and it passed without dissent. Y-T-D Expenditure Report for FY-2008: Mr. Buswell passed out information on year-to-date expenditures. He noted that the handout is a combination of a budget and cash flow analysis and that staff salaries had been annualized. The State Regents will bill in June for office space and other items that they provide. The costs for the Okmulgee and Mounds School Performance Reviews are shown in full along with a new entry for the cost to review Cement and Tipton public schools. Mr. Buswell pointed out that several large expenditures related to the Educational Indicators Program, such as printing, are loaded at the end of the budget year. He also noted that there may be some additional carryover if another school district does not agree to have a performance review prior to the end of the school year. Ms. Shaffer moved to approve the report. Mr. Gilmore seconded the motion, and it passed without dissent. Approval of Proclamation of Appreciation for Mr. Pat Mayes: Mr. Buswell informed the board that Mr. Mayes had passed away shortly after resigning from the Board in late January. Mr. Gilmore moved to express appreciation for Mr. Mayes years of service. Ms. Shaffer seconded the motion, and it passed without dissent. A framed certificate will be sent to Mr. Mayes' widow. Flowers had already been sent to the funeral home on behalf of the Education Oversight Board and Office of Accountability. Status Report on the Oklahoma Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Buswell summarized the Education Indicators Program and its components. Mr. Hsieh discussed the office's web site and the number of computer downloads of the School Report Cards. There have been close to 1.5 million report card downloads in the past year. Parents seem to be the largest group to download the information. There was also a brief discussion regarding which school districts have received the most downloads. Mr. Hsieh told the board that almost every school has had downloads. Regarding the preparation of the 2007 Indicators Reports, Mr. Hsieh reported that most of the data had been received from the other state agencies with just a couple of items outstanding. Ms. Holbrook asked a few questions about the process of data collection and Mr. Buswell replied with a discussion on the data sources used by the Educational Indicators Program. Mr. Hsieh noted that School Questionnaire has more than a 95% response rate. Mr. Wallace discussed some of the work he has been doing on the state report, new mapping software, and the American Community Survey (ACS); a new standard the Census Bureau is using to collect data – including school districts. Approximately one quarter of the data items for the state report have been released and work is progressing smoothly. The office is acquiring new mapping software from the State Regents called ArcView which will make data presentation much easier than in the past. Mr. Wallace discussed how current Census data is only from 2000 but the ACS will have an annual data release. Currently, only the ten largest school districts have up-to-date demographic, social, and economic characteristics but starting in 2010, every school district will have data available on an annual basis. Mr. Buswell also noted that data items under ACS will be for school district boundaries as well as city boundaries. Status Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program (OSPR): Mr. Cobb handed out copies of the last two completed Performance Reviews, Felt and Wynnewood. The reviews for Weleetka, Wetumka, Sasakwa, and Justice will be presented in March. The Okmulgee report is in the editing stage and is expected to be completed in April or May. The last of the on-site visits for Mounds is scheduled for next week and on-site visits for Cement and Tipton will begin soon. Cobb mentioned that there is budget available for a few more reviews this year. Ms. Holbrook asked how schools are signed-up for a performance review and Mr. Cobb gave a brief program overview. He also mentioned that Cement and Tipton will be the 21st and 22nd reviews to be completed overall and the 16th and 17th reviews in the last two years. Sen. Wilcoxson asked if each school reviewed is already a part of GEAR UP. Mr. Cobb mentioned that suggesting that a district participate in GEAR UP could be a recommendation in the Performance Review process. Other functions covered in discussion of the reviews included the Fair Labor Standards Act and budgeting. Sen. Wilcoxson asked about the cost of doing a performance review for Oklahoma City. Mr. Buswell commented that the cost and time to do Oklahoma City Public Schools would be very great and getting consultants with the experience and credentials to complete such a large district would be difficult. Legislative Update: Sen. Wilcoxson explained that she was carrying a bill requiring school districts to bid auditing services every five years New Business: None Announcements: None Adjournment: At 9:30 A.M., Ms. Holbrook made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Gilmore seconded the motion, and it passed without dissent. The minutes of the February 20, 2008 meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved with corrections on March 26, 2008.