Spartan Families & Staff,
While I spent some of my time last week drafting a “greeting letter” to you, it seems I need to turn my focus to more urgent matters and make you aware of two recent announcements that could impact our upcoming school year.
Bixby Public Schools
Supt. Walters’ Statement Related to School Lunches
A recent statement from State Superintendent Walters relative to child nutrition funding came to our attention via social media. To date, we have received no direct communication from the Oklahoma State Department of Education regarding this matter.
To sum it up, Supt. Walters has proposed new rules that would require districts to absorb all costs related to school meals. Based on the information we have at this time, our current understanding is that any proposed rule changes would require legislative approval and therefore will not impact our practices as we begin the upcoming school year in August. With this in mind, we still need to address the information released by the Oklahoma State Department of Education earlier today.
Should these rules be implemented, it could result in a $5M unfunded mandate annually for Bixby Public Schools alone. To absorb this expense into our district budget would require catastrophic measures impacting all programming, staffing, and class sizes.
Important points of clarification:
The district already subsidizes child nutrition costs with other funding sources, as the proceeds alone are not a sufficient source of funding.
If child nutrition proceeds do exceed costs, districts are limited in how the funds can be spent. Administrative costs are not an approved expenditure.
District administrative costs are capped at 5% by law. This portion of our budget is between 3 and 3.5% at BPS.
All school districts are required to follow the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which outlines federal nutrition guidelines for all meals.
All public school districts in Oklahoma undergo required annual financial audits. Any “mismanagement of funds” as referenced in Walters’ statement would constitute a serious audit finding.
Bixby Public Schools takes its responsibility to its community and taxpayers seriously, and it remains fully committed to transparency, accountability, and sound financial stewardship.
Freeze on Federal Education Funding
On June 30, the federal government announced a freeze on $6.9B in federal grant funding for public schools, which was to be distributed to states on July 1.
Impacted essential programming includes:
Teacher & Principal Training and Recruitment
English Language Acquisition Grants
Immigrant Education
Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants
As we plan for the 2025–26 school year, we remain firmly committed to maintaining reduced class sizes and ensuring our students and staff have all the resources needed to thrive.
While this federal action is beyond our local control, we are taking the following proactive steps to ensure we remain fiscally responsible while protecting our core commitments:
The district is working to retain ALL existing positions.
No NEW position requests will be considered at this time.
We appreciate your understanding as we work through this period of financial uncertainty with transparency and care. It’s our priority to advocate for the needs of every family we serve, and we will continue to do just that. We look forward to sharing our excitement for the upcoming school year later this summer!
Sincerely,
Lydia Wilson
Superintendent