New Oklahoma school board takes over charter oversight, Catholic school Court order

The Statewide Charter School Board convenes its first meeting July 8, 2024, at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Executive director Rebecca Wilkinson, right, and Chairperson Brian Shellem, front left, led the meeting. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)

OKLAHOMA CITY — A newly formed state board that promises to be “the tip of the spear” in education innovation for Oklahoma met for the first time on Monday.

The Statewide Charter School Board will oversee seven virtual charter schools and four brick-and-mortar charter schools in Oklahoma. It also takes on the mantle of carrying out a recent Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling rejecting what would have been the nation’s first Catholic charter school.

The new nine-member board replaces the former Statewide Virtual Charter School Board, which focused solely on online-based charter schools. The Oklahoma Legislature approved the change in 2023 and allowed a year for the transition.

The new board is responsible for overseeing and providing services to its charter schools, recommending charter-related legislation, and offering training to all charter authorizers in the state and to potential charter school founders.

It will take over the state-funded Horizon virtual learning platform, which offers online courses to students attending schools where certain desired classes are unavailable.

Of the nine board members, eight are newly appointed. Only one, Brian Shellem, served on the previous iteration of the board.

Gov. Kevin Stitt re-appointed Shellem, who is the president of an automotive equipment supplier in Oklahoma City. The board voted to name Shellem its chairperson.

“This board is going to be the tip of the spear of what’s going to happen in the state,” Shellem said after the meeting. “We are going to bring new ideas and new charter schools that will hopefully improve the educational outcomes. Hopefully those ideas will be shared with all schools so that all schools can improve and everybody moves forward.”

The governor also appointed Angie Thomas, a realtor, and Kathleen White, the owner of an insurance agency. Shellem, Thomas and White are all from Edmond.

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, appointed his policy director, Becky Gooch, to the board. Gooch, of Oklahoma City, previously served on the Putnam City Board of Education for 12 years.

Treat also chose longtime public relations professional Damon Gardenhire, whose work in communications includes stints at the state Department of Education under former Superintendent Janet Barresi and the Oklahoma House.

Gardenhire, of Norman, worked with the education reform team at the Walton Family Foundation, which is known for funding school choice expansion efforts.

House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, appointed Tulsa resident Jared Buswell, the founder of a Christian nonprofit. Last year, Buswell unsuccessfully ran for a school board seat in Tulsa Public Schools.

Buswell volunteered to be the board’s vice chairperson. The rest of the attending members agreed in a unanimous vote.

McCall also tapped Ben Lepak, of Edmond, an attorney and executive director of the State Chamber’s policy think tank. Lepak’s father is state Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore. His sister, Sarah Lepak, sits on the state Board of Education.

Lepak and Thomas were absent from the charter school board’s first meeting.

Kitty Campbell, of Durant, is State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd’s designee on the board. Campbell recently retired as the department head of Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s master of business administration program.

State Superintendent Ryan Walters also is a voting member. The superintendent held a non-voting seat on the previous board and attended only one of its meetings.

Walters chose a designee to vote in his place at Monday’s meeting. He picked John Tautfest, the director of school choice for the state Department of Education.

The state Department of Education did not answer whether Tautfest was a temporary or permanent fixture on the board, saying only that Walters is “always involved” in decisions that affect parental choice in Oklahoma education. Tautfest introduced himself as “the designee today.”

Although less prominent than other Oklahoma governing bodies, the now-defunct Statewide Virtual Charter School Board at times made headlines across the state and country.

In June 2023, the board voted to approve an application from the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa to establish the nation’s first Catholic charter school. St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School planned to open in the 2024-25 academic year with more than 200 students applying to enroll.

But, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last month that a state-funded religious school would violate the Establishment Clause of the state and U.S. constitutions, along with various state statutes. It ordered the board to void the school’s founding charter contract.

The Statewide Virtual Charter School Board attempted to carry out the Court’s ruling in its final meeting June 28, but a measure to rescind the contract failed when Shellem abstained from the vote. All sitting members would have had to vote in favor for it to pass.

Shellem said on Monday the board intends to comply with the Court’s order, though it took no action on the contract. He said the board is waiting for a decision from the Court on a request from the school to preserve the contract in case the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes.

St. Isidore’s Board of Directors pledged not to attempt to open or accept state funds during the 2024-25 academic year. The school announced it intends to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Shellem said his board hasn’t discussed whether it also would appeal.

“We understand the order of the (state) Supreme Court,” he said after the meeting. “Our board will always stay in compliance with those orders.”

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