The Edmond Sun
EDMOND — State Rep. Marian Cooksey and state Sen. Clark Jolley, both R-Edmond, deserve kudos for persistence and common sense.
The pair of local legislators recently successfully shepherded Senate Bill 749 through the legislative process. This legislation allows school districts to pay for maintenance and license fees for existing software packages, associated hardware and software for training out of bond funds instead of requiring the annual fees to come out of operational budgets.
“Currently, district bonds are used by schools to purchase items such as textbooks, uniforms and computer software, but schools were having to purchase license agreements for the computer software out of their general funding,” Cooksey stated in a press release. “This is a small but important way to help our schools during this downturn in our economy.”
SB 749 originally was filed last legislative session and was carried over to this year. The House passed it 68-31. Gov. Brad Henry signed the legislation into law Feb. 5.
Edmond Public Schools stands to benefit from the legislation as does every other district statewide. As budgets continue to get squeezed, moving items out of the general funding bucket may mean keeping jobs for teachers and staff. More than 90 percent of Edmond’s operational budget goes directly to salaries, leaving few dollars for extras. Easing up on this expense, which can be anywhere from 15-18 percent of an original purchase price of several hundred thousand dollars in a district the size of Edmond, means a significant savings in operation costs.
The district is still paying out the money, but allowing more items to be considered from the bond fund is a clever way of helping our school districts stay in business for another year. Thanks to both these legislators for listening to our public schools and finding a way to help them manage a tight budget.
