EDUCATION OVERSIGHT BOARD MEETING MINUTES February 17, 2010, 9:00 A.M. Conference Room 412-A (4th Floor) State Capitol Building Oklahoma City, OK 73105 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Susan Field, Patrick Gilmore, Edward Petersen, Reed Downey, Ami Shaffer, and Millard House II BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Sherry Labyer, Sen. John Ford, and Rep. Ann Coody OTHER REGULAR ATTENDEES: Office of Accountability Staff: Robert Buswell, Jeff Wallace, and Jerry Hsieh VISITORS: Jim Bynum, OEA Call to Order: Ms. Field called the meeting to order at 9:08 A.M. Introduction of board members and guests: Board members and office staff introduced themselves. Roll Call: Ms. Field declared a quorum to be present. Approval of Minutes from the December 9, 2009 Board Meeting: Ms. Field asked everyone to look over the December 9th board meeting minutes. Mr. Petersen made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 9, 2009 meeting without change. Mr. Downey seconded the motion and it passed without dissent. Year-to-Date Expenditure Report for FY-2010: Mr. Buswell handed out a FY-2010 expenditure report and stated that everything is going well. He began by reporting on the performance reviews under the line item “All other professional, scientific, and technological services”. This dollar amount includes the review costs for Hulbert ($40,000), El Reno ($51,000), Haworth, ($40,000), Fletcher ($44,000) and Broken Arrow ($81,000). Mr. Buswell also stated these amounts are not paid all at once but instead use a payment schedule and contractors are pay in percentages as the work is completed and approved. He reported that there will be $191,000 left over from what was budgeted for this line item. He noted that over the past year, the proposals have come down in cost as vendors need work and become more competitive. Mr. Buswell then reviewed some of the highlighted areas of the expenditure report. He noted an unused amount of $29,000 due to Dan Craig’s leaving the Office. He also stated that out-of-state travel would not be used this year. Mr. Buswell spoke about funds waiting to be spent for the education indicators program that occur near the end of the budget cycle, including mailing, in-house printing of the District Report, and the commercial printing of the State Report by the CareerTech print shop. He also mentioned rent and connectivity charges from the State Regents which are also usually held until the end of the fiscal year. He anticipated that the in-state mileage budget will be spent over the next two months. Mr. Buswell discussed the FY-2010 budget being cut from $750,120 to about $709,000. With all the changes in the budget and actual year-to-date expenses of $707,000 our carryover should be about $326,000. Mr. Gilmore made a motion to accept the Year-to-Date Expenditure Report. Mr. Downey seconded the motion and it passed without dissent. Report on Expenditure Projections for FY-2011: Mr. Buswell stated that he was expecting a 10 to 15% budget cut for FY-2011 but felt the office would be OK. He also indicated that the total number of school performance reviews may need to be reduced by one, depending upon the competitiveness of vendors. Status Report on the Educational Indicators Program: Mr. Wallace began by stating that most of the raw data needed for the reports had been obtained. He also said the data flow is normal with only an item or two remaining to be obtained. Mr. Wallace reminded the board that the office would be giving the State Report and District Reports to all members of the Legislature. He then gave the timing of the release of the Report Cards to principals and superintendents. Mr. Buswell then spoke about how the educational indicators are picked up by the press over the summer. Ms. Field asked how many internet hits on the educational indicators. Mr. Hsieh stated we have 250,000 to 300,000 a month and spoke about how search engines use our profiles and routinely download files to keep their web sites current. Status Report on the Oklahoma School Performance Review Program (OSPR): Mr. Buswell began by speaking about the five performance reviews that are currently active and each review’s degree of completion. Hulbert was presented last week and was well received by their local board of education. El Reno is on a second draft. The Office is finishing up comments on the second draft for Haworth. Fletcher’s preliminary issues have been submitted and the Broken Arrow on-site is still in process. There are also school districts lined up for reviews in the Fall of 2010 and Spring of 2011. Mr. House asked about how districts were selected for review and Mr. Buswell described the process and the information presented in the reviews. Mr. Buswell explained a handout of all performance reviews that have been conducted by school district with data showing percentage of minority, percentage of free and reduced lunch, percentage of single parent families, percentage below poverty, and percentage of 1st through 3rd graders on reading remediation. There was also a discussion on the importance of reading and the teaching of reading. Legislative Update: Mr. Buswell went over a few bills that will affect education. SB-2139 authored by Sen. Ford has to do with efforts to increase graduation rates, SB-1610 by Sen. Halligan increases the number of math credits needed to graduate high school, and SB-1862 by Sen. Coffee would help expand the number of charter schools in the state. HB-3253 by Rep. Blackwell would clear up the reporting of school finances and HB-2836 by Rep. Sears would create teacher performance pay. New Business: Mr. Buswell passed out three articles; one on Glenpool and Crescent students getting school provided laptops to take home, one on Arkansas, and one on decreasing the dropout rate. Announcements: A meeting schedule for the year was passed out. Adjournment: Ms. Shaffer made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Downey seconded the motion and it passed without dissent. The meeting ended at 10:28 AM. The minutes of the February 17, 2010 meeting of the Education Oversight Board were approved as submitted on May 19, 2010.