Another record year in distribution of funds to public schools has been announced by the Oklahoma School Land Commission.
It was for a second straight year as the funding totaled $137.4 million including $103.4 million for K-12 public schools and more than $34 million for higher education.
The new distribution beat last year’s numbers by $1.2 million and is an all-time annual high for the Commissioners of the Land Office.
Governor Mary Fallin, who also serves as the chairman of the CLO board, was delighted to learn the agency had set a new statewide record for the second year in a row.
“Funds for education come from a wide variety of sources in Oklahoma, and the CLO has consistently helped to increase resources for our students and teachers,” said Fallin. “The $137.4 million distributed by the CLO this year will help to improve the quality of our public schools and universities, and aid in our goal to boost educational attainment in the state.”
School Land Secretary Harry Birdwell noted that the increased distributions came in a year when state revenues were down.
“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the agency staff, as well as the forward thinking of the commissioners, we have been able to diversify our portfolio so that even in a year when other economic factors are working against us, the CLO was able to increase distributions and set another record for K-12 distributions.”and the CLO staff for their significant efforts to maximize revenues for public education in Oklahoma.”