Voters approve historic bond issue for Oklahoma City Public Schools

Voters in the Oklahoma City Public Schools District overwhelmingly approved the biggest school bond in the district’s history yesterday.

The $955-million school bond will impact every one of OKCPS’s 66 schools and all its students by providing much-needed resources to improve buildings, technology, transportation and sorely needed capital improvement projects. The average age of a school in the district is 72 years. Nine of those schools are about 100 years old.

The bond was split into two separate propositions. The first proposition, which featured the bulk of the funding, passed with 64% of the vote. The second proposition was centered around improving the bus fleet. It passed with 62% of the vote. 

“First and foremost, you have to thank the voters for sending a message that investment in our schools is critical to building the community we all want,” said Roy Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, which spearheaded the “Invest in our Future” campaign. “It takes 60% of the vote to pass school bonds in our state. That is an incredibly high barrier to cross for anything and passage can never be taken for granted. Time and time again voters in Oklahoma City continue to move our community forward.”

The bond will help keep OKCPS’ mill levy competitive with its peers in the surrounding districts. The district’s enrollment grew by more than 2,000 this school year.

OKCPS sees enrollment increase.

The bond will also include funding for flexible workspace at many schools that will be used for workforce and skills training for students.

“The investment the leadership at the district is making into skills training is very exciting and forward-thinking,” said Williams. “The passage of this bond will make sure students in the district are more college or career ready after graduating. Making this kind of investment on the ground level of workforce development will benefit our students, businesses and the community for decades to come.”

Just as separate oversight committees have been created to oversee MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) initiatives as well as the construction of the new county jail, OKCPS has adopted that same philosophy by creating its own oversight committee to ensure that the district is using the bond dollars as intended. The committee is made up of administration and community members.

Construction projects could begin as early as 2023, and any new school project will be completed and slated to open for fall 2026.