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In @GovStitt 's State of the State today, he said the Oklahoma is funding tens of thousands of "ghost students". What are "ghost students" you ask? A thread. 1/6
In July '19, the phrase was used by an @OSBI_OK agent investigating @EpicCharter. The agent alleged the school was inflating its student count by including homeschool kids and private school kids who received no instruction from Epic. Epic denies this. https://oklahomawatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/OSBI-Warrant-Affidavit-on-Epic.pdf 2/6
Days after the OSBI search warrant became public, @OCPAThink, a pro-school choice conservative think tank, took the term and used it to describe an aspect of the state's school funding formula. 3/6
Oklahoma's school funding formula assigns extra amounts, or weights, for students with higher needs, such as students with disabilities or English learners. Districts are allowed to use the current year's weighted average, or one of the prior two years, whichever is higher. 4/6
. @OCPAThink 's Ray Carter has used "ghost students" at least 8 times to describe when districts are using a prior year enrollment. When @GovStitt, in his speech Monday, claimed there are 50,000 “ghost students” being funded right now, he was referring to Carter's analysis. 5/6
. @GovStitt called the provision "simply unfair." But it's designed to help districts avoid abruptly laying off staff or slashing services when enrollment dips unexpectedly - like in a pandemic. That would be detrimental for students still enrolled in the district. 6/6
