Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Statewide Charter Board Horizon topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Statewide Charter School Board outlines Horizon online program, oversight of 33 charter schools
Summary
The newly formed Statewide Charter School Board described its oversight role for charter schools and presented Horizon, a state‑operated digitally enhanced campus that provides online courses, AP access and a consortium purchasing model to expand curriculum options for districts statewide.
Rebecca Wilkinson, executive director of the newly established Statewide Charter School Board, described the board's responsibilities and the Horizon Digitally Enhanced Campus during a presentation to the Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.
Wilkinson said the board assumed duties July 1, 2024, and now oversees 33 charter schools in Oklahoma — 26 brick‑and‑mortar and seven virtual charter schools — collectively serving about 50,166 students on the October 1 snapshot. She said four additional applications are under active review and more authorizations may be requested as contracts with other authorizers expire.
Nut graf: The board highlighted Horizon as a state‑owned online learning platform that districts may use to expand course offerings, deliver AP classes statewide and provide teachers of record for short‑term vacancies while keeping students enrolled in their local districts.
Dr. Lisa Daniels, Horizon's director, told the committee the program certifies online vendors, negotiates consortium pricing for digital courseware, and operates an expanding AP course program that allows districts — especially small and rural ones — to meet statutory AP requirements. Daniels said Horizon has grown from a handful of AP courses to 23 available AP sections and reported thousands of course enrollments in the program.
Horizon also builds and delivers its own Oklahoma‑aligned courses. Wilkinson said the board has implemented a pilot for literacy programs the legislature referenced in the Strong Readers Act and had developed an online financial‑literacy course in anticipation of statutory requirements.
Members pressed staff on implementation timing when State Department of Education standards change. Dr. Daniels said vendor courses are reviewed and aligned to state standards; where Oklahoma adopts unique standards not shared by other states, Horizon's teachers design or update courses — Daniels estimated roughly a semester may be required to develop a new Oklahoma‑specific course.
Ending: Wilkinson and Horizon staff said they requested a standstill budget of $6.7 million — roughly half designated for Horizon services — and asked for continued support as the agency scales authorization, oversight and statewide online services.
