Oklahoma City Public Schools, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Public Schools
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
District details
Superintendent: Jamie Polk
# of school board members: 8
Website: Link

Oklahoma City Public Schools is a school district in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Click on the links below to learn more about the school district’s...

• Superintendent
• School board
• Elections
• Budget
• Teacher salaries
• Academic performance
• Students
• Staff
• Schools
• Contact information

Superintendent

This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

Jamie Polk is the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools. Polk was appointed superintendent in May 2024, taking office in July of that year. Polk's previous career experience includes working as the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education for the district beginning in 2019.

Past superintendents

• Sean McDaniel was the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools from 2018 to 2024. McDaniel's previous career experience includes working as the superintendent of Mustang Public Schools, a high school language arts teacher, and a coach.
• Rebecca Kaye was the acting superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools in 2018.
• Aurora Lora was the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools from 2016 to 2018. Lora's previous career experience included working as the district's interim superintendent.
• Rob Neu was the superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools from 2014 to 2016. Neu's previous career experience included working previously as a superintendent.
• Dave Lopez was the interim superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools in 2014. Lopez's previous career experience included working as the Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and the president of Southwestern Bell.

School board

The Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education consists of eight members elected to four-year terms. Seven members are elected by district with an eighth member elected at large to chair the board.

Office	Name	Date assumed office
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, Chairperson	Paula Lewis	2017
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 1	Carole Thompson	April 12, 2021
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 2	Lori Bowman	April 12, 2021
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 3	Jessica Cifuentes	April 15, 2024
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 4	Dana Meister	February 29, 2024
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 5	Mike Shelton	June 3, 2024
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 6	Juan Lecona	April 10, 2023
Oklahoma City Public Schools school board, District 7	Meg McElhaney	December 9, 2019

Elections

See also: Oklahoma City Public Schools, Oklahoma, elections

Members of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education are elected to four-year terms on a staggered basis.

Three seats on the school board were scheduled to be up for general election on April 1, 2025. The general election was canceled after Chairperson Paula Lewis won the election outright in the February 11 primary election. The District 1 and District 2 races were already canceled due to only one candidate filing for each seat.

Ballotpedia covered school board elections in 367 school districts in 29 states in 2024. Those school districts had a total student enrollment of 12,203,404 students. Click here to read an analysis of those elections.

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Public participation in board meetings

The Oklahoma City Public Schools school board maintains the following policy on public testimony during board meetings:

“

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Starting with the September 16, 2024, regular Board of Education business meeting, the time period to sign up to request to make public comments has changed to start at 4:30 pm and end at 5:00 pm, on the day of business meetings, as outlined / highlighted below. In order to maintain open lines of communication, the Board will provide time for public comments during this business meeting. Public comments will be heard only during the designated Public Comments portion of the Agenda. Any person who is a student, parent, resident, employee, citizen, patron, stakeholder, or official representative of a recognized group or organization of this school district may address the Board for a maximum of three (3) minutes, when granted permission by the Board Chairperson. Where several people and/or delegations wish to address the same subject, a spokesperson must be selected. Unless otherwise provided for, Public Comments will only be allowed during periods specifically allotted for that purpose. Citizens of the district, including delegations or individuals, have the right, and are encouraged, to attend meetings of the Board and to listen to and observe its deliberations, including through livestream media. In the interest of orderly conduct of Board meetings, spontaneous discussion from the floor shall not be permitted. The individual dignity of Board members, district employees, students, and all persons in attendance at Board meetings shall be respected; accordingly, no persons in attendance at Board meetings shall be subjected to abuse through these proceedings. Individuals are requested to seek resolution of specific problems at the school site or most appropriate central office level. Persons are encouraged to write to the Board or the superintendent with general questions, concerns, suggestions or to obtain information about the district. Each person will receive notice of the receipt of his or her written correspondence, which may include a response. Individuals who wish to address an agenda-related topic at a regularly scheduled business meeting are required to complete a Public Comments Sign-up Form before the Board meeting convenes. An OKCPS staff member will be at a table in the foyer outside the board meeting room with Public Comment Sign-up Forms between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on the day of the meeting. This is the only time forms may be submitted to request to make public comments at Board meetings. Public comments must pertain to a topic listed on the agenda for the meeting when comments are made. All persons who speak at Board meetings are to meet all provisions of this policy. School Board policies, state law and federal law have established separate and distinct procedures and forums for collective bargaining issues, and for the resolution of employee grievances, employee complaints, employee suspensions and terminations, complaints against individual employees, pupil suspensions and appeals, political campaigns, and litigation. To avoid circumvention of those separate proceedings and ensure fairness to all parties concerned, no person will be allowed to speak regarding the following: (1) an issue subject to collective bargaining; (2) an issue in a pending lawsuit, complaint or investigation filed with an outside agency, wherein the school district, employee(s) or the Board is party; (3) a pending grievance; (4) a pending complaint filed with the school district; (5) any grievance or complaint should first be filed with District Administration prior to being submitted to the Board of Education; (6) a complaint against individual employee(s); (7) an employee disciplinary action, suspension, or termination; (8) a pupil suspension or appeal which may ultimately reach the Board of Education; (9) a solicitation for business for the District to buy a product or service; and, (10) disparaging comments about any individual, by name, shall not be permitted. Additionally, no person who has publicly announced or filed as a candidate for public office may speak during this session. The Board Chairperson may interrupt and terminate any presentation that is not in accordance with any of these criteria. Board members may not respond to speakers' comments.

”

District map

School district map

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.

• Revenue
• Expenditures

Revenue, 2020-2021

SOURCE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Federal:	$83,254,000	$2,683	20%
Local:	$167,913,000	$5,412	40%
State:	$173,412,000	$5,589	41%
Total:	$424,579,000	$13,685

Expenditures, 2020-2021

TYPE	AMOUNT	AMOUNT PER STUDENT	PERCENT
Total Expenditures:	$433,405,000	$13,969
Total Current Expenditures:	$404,893,000	$13,050
Instructional Expenditures:	$202,561,000	$6,528	47%
Student and Staff Support:	$70,822,000	$2,282	16%
Administration:	$63,875,000	$2,058	15%
Operations, Food Service, Other:	$67,635,000	$2,179	16%
Total Capital Outlay:	$24,783,000	$798
Construction:	$16,992,000	$547
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other:	$904,000	$29
Interest on Debt:	$2,825,000	$91

Teacher salaries

The following salary information was pulled from the district's teacher salary schedule. A salary schedule is a list of expected compensations based on variables such as position, years employed, and education level. It may not reflect actual teacher salaries in the district.

Year	Minimum	Maximum
2024-2025	$45,250	$72,735
2022-2023	$42,000	$66,135
2021	$41,500	$65,635
2020	$41,500	$65,635
2019	$39,001	$63,869
2018	$39,001	$63,869

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements.

• Mathematics
• Reading/language arts
• Graduation rates

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	7	35	3	4	3	10	20
2018-2019	12	41	6	10	10	14	26
2017-2018	12	42	6	11	13	14	25
2016-2017	17	47	8	16	15	19	30
2015-2016	47	76	35	46	44	47	62
2014-2015	51	76	39	51	51	53	63
2013-2014	47	75	34	48	44	49	58
2012-2013	54	80	44	54	53	63	65
2011-2012	53	78	43	52	54	60-64	65
2010-2011	54	80	44	53	54		65

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2020-2021	10	31	6	7	10	16	28
2018-2019	16	40	10	12	16	21	35
2017-2018	16	36	10	13	17	22	36
2016-2017	19	40	12	16	20	24	38
2015-2016	49	73	40	46	52	50	67
2014-2015	51	69	43	48	55	56	66
2013-2014	49	70	41	47	49	50	64
2012-2013	52	71	47	49	54	62	66
2011-2012	52	71	46	48	54	60-64	68
2010-2011	52	71	47	47	53		67

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year	All (%)	Asian/Pacific Islander (%)	Black (%)	Hispanic (%)	Native American (%)	Two or More Races (%)	White (%)
2019-2020	65	80-89	67	65	50-54	65-69	55-59
2018-2019	74	80-89	74	75	60-64	60-69	65-69
2017-2018	67	80-84	65	73	40-44	60-69	54
2016-2017	73	70-74	78	73	65-69	70-79	65-69
2015-2016	71	80-84	76	71	65-69	40-59	61
2014-2015	74	80-84	79	75	55-59	60-79	60-64
2013-2014	73	85-89	77	71	55-59	>=50	70-74
2012-2013	79	90-94	77	79	65-69	60-79	82

Students

• Enrollment
• Demographics

Year	Enrollment	Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023	33,245	3.5
2021-2022	32,086	3.3
2020-2021	31,026	-15.7
2019-2020	35,897	-4.5
2018-2019	37,530	-3.1
2017-2018	38,709	-2.8
2016-2017	39,806	-2.6
2015-2016	40,823	-0.6
2014-2015	41,074	0.4
2013-2014	40,913	-9.3
2012-2013	44,720	3.4
2011-2012	43,212	0.5
2010-2011	42,989	1.0
2009-2010	42,549	3.4
2008-2009	41,089	0.3
2007-2008	40,985	0.5
2006-2007	40,778	1.1
2005-2006	40,322	-0.2
2004-2005	40,387	-0.5
2003-2004	40,599	-0.6
2002-2003	40,856	1.5
2001-2002	40,240	1.2
2000-2001	39,750	0.6
1999-2000	39,531	0.0

Racial Demographics, 2022-2023

RACE	Oklahoma City Public Schools (%)	Oklahoma K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native	2.0	11.2
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander	1.9	2.3
Black	19.6	7.9
Hispanic	57.4	19.8
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	0.4	0.4
Two or More Races	7.2	12.9
White	11.5	45.5

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Staff

• Teachers
• Administrators
• Other staff

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Oklahoma City Public Schools had 2,181.18 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 15.24.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten:	106.64
Kindergarten:	0.00
Elementary:	854.33
Secondary:	1,220.21
Total:	2,181.18

Oklahoma City Public Schools employed 11.88 district administrators and 148.92 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators:	11.88
District Administrative Support:	137.43
School Administrators:	148.92
School Administrative Support:	151.53

Other staff, 2022-2023 school year

TYPE	NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides:	646.05
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors:	45.48
Total Guidance Counselors:	110.83
Elementary Guidance Counselors:	40.24
Secondary Guidance Counselors:	70.59
Librarians/Media Specialists:	57.89
Library/Media Support:	34.21
Student Support Services:	614.11
Other Support Services:	671.10

Schools

Oklahoma City Public Schools operates 59 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.

List of schools

SCHOOL NAME	NUMBER OF STUDENTS	GRADES
Adams Es	406	PK-4
Adelaide Lee Es	410	PK-4
Arthur Es	389	PK-4
Belle Isle Ms	475	5-8
Bodine Es	638	PK-4
Britton Es	628	PK-4
Buchanan Es	479	PK-4
Capitol Hill Hs	1,455	9-12
Capitol Hill Ms	669	5-8
Cesar Chavez Es	630	PK-4
Classen Hs Of Advanced Studies	743	9-12
Classen Ms Of Advanced Studies	855	5-8
Cleveland Es	405	PK-4
Coolidge Es	505	PK-4
Douglass Hs	556	9-12
Emerson Alternative Ed. (Es)	64	KG-5
Emerson Alternative Ed. (Hs)	530	9-12
Emerson Alternative Ed. (Ms)	98	6-8
Esperanza Es	427	PK-4
Eugene Field Es	420	PK-4
Fillmore Es	654	PK-4
Hawthorne Es	376	PK-4
Hayes Es	450	PK-4
Heronville Es	559	PK-4
Hillcrest Es	516	PK-4
Jefferson Ms	919	5-8
John Marshall Hs	829	9-12
John Marshall Ms	626	5-8
Kaiser Es	530	PK-4
Mark Twain Es	277	PK-4
Mary Golda Ross Ms	819	5-8
M.L. King Jr. Es	450	PK-4
Monroe Es	323	PK-4
Moon Ms	679	5-8
Nichols Hills Es	494	PK-4
Northwest Classen Hs	1,702	9-12
Prairie Queen Es	615	PK-4
Putnam Heights Academy Hs	46	9-12
Putnam Heights Academy Ms	34	5-8
Quail Creek Es	543	PK-4
Ridgeview Es	395	PK-4
Rockwood Es	527	PK-4
Rogers Middle School	266	5-6
Roosevelt Ms	853	5-8
Shidler Es	325	PK-4
Southeast Hs	854	9-12
Southeast Ms	733	5-8
Southern Hills Es	485	PK-4
Spencer Es	410	2-4
Star Spencer Hs	378	9-12
Star Spencer Ms	236	7-8
Taft Ms	1,045	5-8
Thelma R. Parks Es	472	PK-4
U. S. Grant Hs	1,594	9-12
Van Buren Es	356	PK-4
Webster Ms	810	5-8
Wheeler Ms	538	5-8
Willow Brook Es	346	PK-1
Wilson Es	398	PK-4

Noteworthy events

2015: Civil rights infractions

An investigation was opened in December 2015 by officials from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. This marked the office's fourth open investigation in the district and examined complaints that students with disabilities were given different treatment and were excluded or denied benefits. Officials in the school district refused to comment.

In 2015, UCLA's Center for Civil Rights Remedies conducted a nation-wide study of suspension rates. This study compared district to district and found that Oklahoma City Public Schools had some of the highest suspension rates in the nation. During the 2011-2012 school year, almost 50 percent of the students from fifth-twelfth grade had been suspended, compared to the national suspension rate of ten percent.

According to Dan Losen, the Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies, "these rates are just extraordinarily high." When broken out by race, the suspension rates were even higher for black students, with 75 percent of black males suspended and 54 percent of black females suspended during the 2011-2012 school year. This was the highest suspension rate of black students in the nation at the time, according to UCLA's report. Data from the U.S. Department of Education showed that these suspensions started in elementary school, with at least 40 percent of black students suspended during the 2011-2012 school year across 12 of the district's primary schools.

The district was already under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights for the alleged discrimination against black and Hispanic students. Superintendent Rob Neu agreed that there was a problem with the over-use of suspensions but questioned the report's ranking of the district. However, Neu stated that the discipline policies needed to be revised and that suspensions should only be used for the most serious offenses. He also believed that too many minor infractions, such as truancy, led to suspension.

2014: Mascot change

In December 2014, the school board voted to change the school mascot of Capital Hill High School. The school's mascot had been the Capitol Hill Redskins. A local student club called the American Indian Organization had expressed interest in appearing before the board to ask for the mascot to be removed. The board heard from the district's Centennial group and the district's administrator for American Indian student services before unanimously voting to change the mascot.

A committee of students, alumni, and community members was formed to choose a new mascot for Capitol Hill High School by the end of the spring semester. Students and community members, however, did not express unanimous support for the change. On December 10, 2014, some students left class to protest the change. In response to the protest, the district released this statement:

“	This morning Capitol Hill High School students respectfully voiced their concerns of the Oklahoma City Public School District Board of Education’s decision to identify a new mascot for the school. Oklahoma City Public School District administration is proud of our students and support their decision to protest the Board of Education’s vote. This is an emotional issue for everyone involved and requires heartfelt and open conversations moving forward. Current and former Capitol Hill High School students will have an active role and strong voice in the process moving forward, and the District’s Native American Student Services Department will work with the student body and the community on providing additional information on the history of the term “Redskins”. Our goal is to be supportive of our students and respectful to the community during this process.	”
—Tierney Tinnin, OKCPS Communications Officer (2014)

2014: Miscalculated tax revenue

From 1992 to 2014, Oklahoma City Public Schools missed out on $2 million in state aid due to a miscalculation in state funding from ad valorem tax revenues. Due to the error, the school district recovered $2 million in state aid. Across the state, districts could have seen a total of $18 million in state aid that was missed due to the improper application of legally required funding. The ad valorem tax is a local property tax on commercial personal property and agricultural personal property.

2014: Removal of school administrators

On January 10, 2014, Interim Superintendent Dave Lopez announced plans to remove at least ten school administrators in response to poor records of academic performance. Lopez promised significant changes in an early January meeting with school board members after the publication of state educational assessments. A November report by the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction found that 65 out of 93 district schools experienced decreased test scores from previous years. Lopez also promised the placement of at least 100 district officials into schools to spur academic improvement. The superintendent's plan gained support from board members including Lynne Hardin and Bob Hammack.

Contact information

Oklahoma City Public Schools
615 N. Classen Blvd
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
Phone: 405-587-0000

About school boards

Education legislation in Oklahoma

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

Oklahoma	School Board Elections	News and Analysis
List of school districts in Oklahoma School board elections in Oklahoma Public education in Oklahoma	School board elections, 2025 Oklahoma school board elections, 2025	School board election data analysis, 2024 United States school shootings, 1990-present

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Oklahoma City Public Schools
• Oklahoma State School Boards Association
• Oklahoma State Department of Education