PRESS RELEASE: Gov. Mary Fallin Selects Her Four Appointees to Task Force on Improving State Aid Formula

Oklahoma Governor's Office sent this bulletin at 08/25/2017 01:23 PM CDT
Office of Governor Mary Fallin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2017

Governor Mary Fallin Selects Her Four Appointees to Task Force on Improving State Aid Formula

OKLAHOMA CITY - Governor Mary Fallin today announced she has selected her four appointees to the Task Force on Improving the State Aid Formula.

The 16-member task force is to study and make recommendations to the Legislature on improving the state aid formula for public schools. The task force is authorized through Dec. 31, 2018, but may submit any recommendations it develops by the end of this calendar year to the governor, president pro tempore of the Senate, speaker of the House and the chairmen of the education committees in the Senate and House of Representatives.

The governor’s four appointees are:

  • Stacey Butterfield, of Tulsa, superintendent of Jenks Public Schools. Her entire 28-year career in public education has been in Jenks. In addition to spending 10 years in the classroom as a first- and a second-grade teacher, Butterfield has served the district in a variety of roles, including principal; director of public relations; assistant superintendent, human resources; and deputy superintendent. She was named superintendent of Jenks Public Schools in 2013.
  • Stanley F. Hupfeld, of Oklahoma City, who served 22 years as chief executive officer of Integris Health, Inc., before retiring in 2009. Hupfeld helped start a charter school that bears his name, Stanley Hupfeld Academy in the Oklahoma City School District. He also has served as chairman of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, and led the fundraising campaigns for United Way of Metro Oklahoma City.
  • Dave Lopez, of Oklahoma City, who serves as Oklahoma secretary of state. From 2013 to 2014, he served as interim superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools. He previously served as president of Oklahoma City-based American Fidelity Foundation, and before that as president of Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc. Prior to that, he had a 22-year career with SBC Communications (now AT&T), including serving as president of SBC Oklahoma and as president of SBC Texas.
  • Jennifer Monies, of Oklahoma City, executive director of Oklahoma Educated Workforce Initiative, a nonprofit that seeks to better align Oklahoma’s education system with the state’s current and future workforce needs. Before that she served as a spokeswoman for the Senate president pro tempore, the State Chamber of Oklahoma, and the speaker of the House of Representatives. Prior to that, she was a reporter for The Oklahoman and Congressional Quarterly.

The task force was created by House Bill 1578, by Rep. Chad Caldwell and Sen. Gary Stanislawski. The measure was passed by legislators this past session and signed into law by the governor. The task force is to be made up of a cross section of education, business and political leaders. They are to study multiple facets of the State Aid Funding Formula, including formula structure, efficiencies, and cost-saving measures of school districts.

The bill also created the School Finance Review Commission for ongoing oversight of school finance, including the school funding formula, teacher compensation, benefits, and administration costs.

 

 

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