Oklahoma § 70-1210.710 - Funding of elementary school counselors –

§ 70-1210.710. Funding of elementary school counselors –

Implementation contingency – Verification of expenditure levels.

A. It is hereby the intent of the Oklahoma Legislature to

provide funding to urban school districts to hire school counselors

at the elementary level. Preference for funding shall be given to

those urban school districts that have the highest number of

elementary students at-risk and in need of alternative education.

For purposes of this section, “urban school district” means a school

district with an average daily membership of thirty thousand

(30,000) or more.

B. Implementation of this section shall be contingent upon the

appropriation by the Legislature of state funds for the specific

purpose of implementing this section. Nothing in this section shall

prevent the State Board of Education or a school district board of

education from utilizing private, local, or federal funds to

implement this section.

C. Implementation of this section shall be delayed until the

current expenditure per pupil in average daily attendance in public

elementary and secondary schools in unadjusted dollars for the 199899 school year or any school year thereafter for Oklahoma, as

reported by the National Center for Education Statistics annually in

the Digest of Education Statistics, reaches at least ninety percent

(90%) of the regional average expenditure for that same year, and

funds are provided. For purposes of this section, the regional

average expenditure shall consist of the current expenditure per

pupil in average daily attendance in public elementary and secondary

schools in unadjusted dollars for each of the following states:

Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and

Texas, averaged together. By January 1 of each year, the State

Board of Education shall report whether or not the ninety-percent

expenditure level has been reached based on information reported

annually in the Digest of Education Statistics by the National

Center for Education Statistics. This section shall be implemented

on July 1 after the first January 1 report verifies that the ninetypercent expenditure level has been reached and funds have been

provided for the specific purposes of this section.

Added by Laws 1999, c. 320, § 51, eff. July 1, 1999. Amended by

Laws 2001, c. 201, § 11; Laws 2003, c. 434, § 28.