Franchise Opportunities in Tulsa, OK

The Oklahoma Iron Works Building on the 22-acre Evans-Fintube property north of downtown will be saved after all.

The city has selected Be Good Development Partners and J.E. Dunn to develop the southern half of the land, and the first step in that process will be to reclaim and reimagine the historic building.

In addition, plans call for a skyscraper up to 42 stories tall, the first skyscraper with more than 40 floors that would be built in Tulsa since the Cityplex Central Tower in 1979 and the first in the downtown area since the BOk Tower in 1976.

“We are looking at retail; we are looking at some dining, a brewery, makerspace and studio space as well as office and co-working space,” said Franchell Abdalla, who is leading the development group, called Team Alchemy.

The Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity began a search for Evans-Fintube development teams about a year ago and announced the two finalists in February. The city owns the property.

The proposal from the other finalist, Greenwood Phoenix, led by E Smith Legacy, Rose Rock and Pivot Project, included an outdoor multipurpose stadium and an indoor youth and amateur sports facility.

Kian Kamas, executive director of TAEO, said the 15-member selection committee was impressed with how Team Alchemy’s proposal hewed to the wishes and desires of the Greenwood community in which the project will be built.

“The scale and the proposed uses and their alignment with community feedback was probably one of the biggest things that really tipped the scales for Team Alchemy,” she said. “The steering committee felt like that if you started at the first community engagement meeting into the second and the third, consistently the feedback that they heard from the community aligned most with what they saw in Team Alchemy’s proposal versus what they saw in the Greenwood Phoenix proposal.”

Kamas said the steering committee was also happy to see Team Alchemy’s commitment to keeping the Iron Works Building around for future generations. The plant made much of the steel that was used to construct some of Tulsa’s most historic skyscrapers.

“We think it just makes a lot of great sense,” she said. “It really aligns with the kind of scope and scale of the neighborhood, and so we are excited about Phase 1.”

J.E. Dunn representative Michael Collins said the construction company was honored to be a co-developer on the project.

“This is a little different because of where it is located in the Tulsa Greenwood District, the Black Wall Street district,” Collins said. “So this is more of a humbling opportunity to honor future development and have a vision that the community wants to stand behind.”

Several factors contributed to the company’s interest in being part of the development, Collins said, including its Black employee resource group’s effort to engage in community initiatives across the country.

“That played a significant role,” he said.

In addition to helping connect the Greenwood community and enhance it, the project is intended to create economic and social wealth for residents.

“Those are the key components,” Collins said.

Abdalla said she hopes to begin construction sometime in 2023, though city officials say they typically allow six to 18 months to complete development agreements before any earth is turned on a project.

In addition to bringing the Iron Works Building back to life, Phase 1 of the development calls for constructing work-play-stay units on the south end of the property, negotiating for the removal of the WATCO rail yard on the west side of the site, and establishing a Community Land Trust.

Abdalla said she and her team are committed to building The Beacon, the 42-story, mixed-use structure that highlighted their proposal, in Phase 2 of the development. As proposed, the building could potentially include rooftop dining, a hotel, a performance theater, studio space, first-floor retail and mixed-income multifamily housing.

“Now it might not end up being 42 stories; that’s only for negotiations to determine,” Abdalla said. “But it won’t deliver on less than what we talked about in terms of its programming.

“It will have an indoor performing area. It will ensure that there is multifamily housing that is mixed income. It will ensure that there is dining and retail for both local business owners and entrepreneurs to participate as well as attracting national retailers and national hoteliers to come into this space.”

The same goes for the overall goals of the project, which are based not only on the vision and desires of the community but on the economic needs of the city, Abdalla said.

“And so while there may be shifts, we always want to assure that we approach this project with that at the forefront: that this was going to deliver a community benefit at every level.”

McPherson College recognizes its highest academic achievers in the spring 2022 Honor Roll and Honorable Mention. To qualify for the Honor Roll, students must be a full-time student and earn a grade point average of 3.55 or higher during the previous term. Students earning a grade point average from 3.25 to 3.54 are named to the Honorable Mention Roll.

Students named to the McPherson College Honor Roll for spring 2022 include:

Israel Acosta, Houston, TX Clarissa Adamyk, McPherson, KS Natalia Ahrens, Lees Summit, MO Kaylie Akiona, Kaaawa, HI Davis Alksnis, Latvia Wyatt Allen, Topeka, KS Amanda Ambrosy, Haslet, TX Carter Anglin, Louisburg, KS Lindzie Archer, McPherson, KS Bailey Avila, Corinth, TX William Bandy, Bel Air, MD Thane Barta, Anchorage, AK Darril Baty, Sharpsville, IN Luke Beddow, Pauls Valley, OK Michael Beltran Rubio, Bogota, Cundinamarca, Columbia Cheneal Benne, Courtland, KS Samantha Bennett, North Richland Hills, TX Caden Beurkens, Byron Center, MI Caeley Billings, Gardner, KS Mia Birkes, Mcpherson, KS Brady Blanka, Wamego, KS Taylor Bohannon, Belle Plaine, KS Kevine Bondo, Cape Girardeau, MO Molly Booker, Roseville, CA Kyrstin Branscum, Gravette, AR Felix Bravo, Hanford, CA Owen Braxmeyer, Manhattan, KS Garrett Brenning, Culbertson, NE Kaelan Brockway, Salina, KS Raegin Bromenshenkel, Phoenix, AZ Oscar Brouwer, Groningen, Netherlands Maggie Brown, Wallace, KS Cedric Brown, Culpeper, VA Maxwell Brucks, Columbia, MO Kourtney Brumley, McPherson, KS Victoria Bruno, McPherson, KS Edwin Buiter, Ireton, IA Jaden Cain, Wichita, KS Jacob Campbell-Roberson, Nyack, NY Kaci Chadwick, Cheyenne Wells, CO Colton Chamberlain, Reno, TX Kade Chapman, Durham, OK Vannesa Cisneros, North Highlands, CA Tate Clem, Wichita, KS Cole Coggins, Kiowa, KS Isiah Collins, Henderson, NV Daniel Connell, High Peak, Derbyshire, UK Austin Cooper, Carmichael, CA Abigail Cordova, Henderson, NV Susanne Cunningham, Chanute, KS Joseph Cyr, Saint Louis, MO Jesse Davis, Fontana, CA Antoine Detavernier, Bruges, Belgium Anthony DeVries, Arvada, CO Wendy Diaz, McPherson, KS Katherine Dudte, Canton, KS Braden Dunn, Frisco, TX Kurtis Ebling, Lindsborg, KS Mackenzie Egan, Vandreuil Dorion, Quebec, Canada Gershom Epp, Hesston, KS Sarah Ewing, Hutchinson, KS Brionnah Fessler, McPherson, KS Nathanael Fetters, Whitewright, TX Caleb Feuerstake, Waterdown, Ontario, Canada Heidi Fischer, Aledo, TX Jadin Fleming, Castle Rock, CO Theodore Flint, Sagle, ID Hayden Foster, Little Elm, TX Koen Gakstatter, Stilwell, KS Taeylon Garland, Fort Hood, TX Naomi Campbell Gateka, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa Martin Gentes, Florence, MA Alexandra Gipson, Harrison, AR Johannes Glymour, Manhattan, KS Kollin Goering, McPherson, KS Kurt Golubski, Paola, KS Conrad Gramckow, Ojai, CA Alexis Grattan, Newton, KS Sierra Grow, Halstead, KS Michael Halgren, Leawood, KS Madison Hall, The Colony, TX Jailynn Hammel, Salina, KS Bailey Hartley, Arp, TX Jonathan Hawkins, Baldwin City, KS Scott Hayford, Spring Creek, NV Derika Helms, Inman, KS Shyanne Henkis, Laveen, AZ Sydney Hicks, Broomfield, CO Lola Hipp, Goodland, KS Jonathan Hoffman, Wysox, PA Caleb Houghton, McPherson, KS Lauren Houston, Sugar Land, TX Heather Hudson, Greenville, TX Adam Hughes, Newman Lake, WA Ethan Huston, Saint John, KS Spencer Ice, Cameron, MO Thomas Impson, Durant, OK Tya Jackson, Wichita, KS Makenzie Jansonius, Prairie View, KS Zoe Jerke, Great Bend, KS Anika Jobe, Eudora, KS Kadee Johnson, Groveton, TX Brandt Johnson, Peyton, CO Kennedy Johnson, Colorado Springs, CO Jordyn Johnson, Lakewood, CO Cameron Jones, Harrison, AR Gracia Kasongo, Lubumbashi, Zaire, Polina Khoroshevskaya, Kemerovo, Russia Raegan Kleppe, Durant, OK Alexander Ko, McPherson, KS Stephanie Ko, McPherson, KS Sylvia Ko, McPherson, KS Jacob Koehn, Wichita, KS Christa Kondziola, North Newton, KS Brooke Krapes, Arvada, CO Matthew Kroeker, Wichita, KS Dane Kudera, Baggs, WY Lauren Kunda, Claremont, CA Drew Labertew, McPherson, KS Arianna Lathrop, Fort Worth, TX Emily Leeson, Roswell, NM Toby Leffew, Reno, NV Madison Logan, Driftwood, TX Samantha Lombela, Johannesburg, South Africa Tyler Loy, Topeka, KS Jocelyn Mabery, Haltom City, TX Lauren Machado, Elizabeth, CO Carelle Mampasu, Kinshasa, Congo Thomas Mancuso, Chesapeake Beach, MD Daniel Marcano, San Jose, Costa Rica Tyler Marcum, Missouri Valley, IA Ellyce Mares, Riverside, CA Kael Markham, Topeka, KS Colby Marshall, Montgomery, TX Dylan Martell, Colorado Springs, CO Bethany Masters, Howe, TX Grace Maxey, Damascus, OR Benedict Kirabo Mbogga, Oxford, England Kenya McCain, Plano, TX Evan McGoldrick, Flower Mound, TX Hannah McKay, Golden, CO Celeste McMillen, Kittanning, PA Wyatt Miceli, Woodacre, CA Cole Miller, Mcpherson, KS Christopher Miller, West Milton, OH Maria Miranda, Great Bend, KS Palmer Moe, Seattle, WA Austin Moffet, Toronto, KS Ezra Monroe, Melissa, TX Ethan Montalvo, La Feria, TX Braylon Moody, Pine Bluff, AR Jayla Moore, Forney, TX Katelyn Moore, Douglass, KS Tanner Morrow, Topeka, KS Arni Mualumba, Kinshasa, Congo Madison Mullen, Wichita, KS Vanessa Mundo, Houston, TX Trey Murphy, Wagga Wagga, Australia Paul Kapya Mwengwe, McPherson, KS Michel Mwengwe, Lubumbashi, Congo Hunter Nicholas, Amarillo, TX Fabio Nickel, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Alexis Obregon, Atascosa, TX Jason Okoro, Plano, TX Haven Ousley, Camden, MS Grant Owens, Hutchinson, KS Alexandrea Pak, Pulyallup, WA Erica Paradise, Bakersfield, CA Emma Parker, Hayden, ID James Pawlak, Palatine, IL Emily Peterson, Canton, KS Aidan Pham, Frisco, TX Corianne Phelps, Peck, KS Carly Pomrenke, Brighton, CO Sierra Portenier, Phillipsburg, KS Jeremy Porter, Seneca Falls, NY Quintin Powell Jr, Terry, MS Brianna Powers, Adel, IA Kennan Puckett, Mesquite, TX Kaden Quint, Hutchinson, KS Tyler Rainey, Saint Louis, MO Robert Ramberg, Topeka, KS Kaden Rapp, Hennessey, OK Logan Rees, Franklin, IN Gregorio Rivera, McPherson, KS Luis Rodriguez Jr., The Colony, TX Devin Roff, Comstock, WI Cameron Rogers, Elkview, WV Frank Romanaggi, Portland, OR Curtis Rose, Midwest City, OK Daniel Rowlett, Gustine, CA Claudia Russe, Frsco, TX Briana Ruth, McPherson, KS Kendyl Saffer, Arriba, CO Natalia Salto, Cimarron, KS Andrew Schaefer, Sag Harbor, NY Dustin Schnacker, Tulare, CA Kody Scholl, Colorado Springs, CO Robert Schonberner, Omaha, NE Alexander Schoneweis, Lincoln, NE Cole Schroeder, Russell, KS Logan Scott, Caulfield, MO Emily Segura, North Las Vegas, NV Madison Servaes, McPherson, KS Gerod Shaffer, Topeka, KS Aidan Sharkey, Deland, FL Austin Siegal, Panama City, FL Eliseo Silva, Sterling, KS Emma Singleton, North Las Vegas, NV Meghan Smith, Lindsborg, KS Olivia Smith, Wichita, KS Ross Smith, Panama City, FL Amare Sonson, Jackson, GA Valick Sorter, Kismet, KS Sarah Stebbins, Pittsburg, KS Andrew Steinbeck, Liberty, MO Mason Stephens, Forney, TX Kenneth Storer, McPherson, KS Colby Swift, Sedgwick, KS Tristan Szabo, Sparks, NV Xavier Taylor, Waynesville, MO Emily Terry, Springfield, MO Reagan Thai, Las Vegas, NV Samantha Thompson, Forney, TX Sean Thomson, Blandford Forum, UK Kaden Tichenor, Holcomb, KS Adriana Tilleman, Paris, TX Trinity Tovar, Haslet, TX Brandy Trengove, Denver, CO Nicholas Turner, Hemphill, TX Mackenzie Unruh, Hesston, KS Leandro Vera, McPherson, KS Hannah Wagner, San Antonio, TX Antonio Watson, Oklahoma City, OK Morgan Watson, Loveland, CO Kassidy Weaver, Katy, TX Collin Wedel, Moundridge, KS Ann Weesner, Hutchinson, KS Isaak Welch, Pacific City, OR Matthew Whitney, McPherson, KS Benjamin Wiebe, Laramie, WY Austin Wiley, Kansas City, MO Luca Winterton, Thunderidge, England Ellis Woodruff, Princeton, TX Andrew Woods, Nevada, TX Cameron Wright, Denison, TX Val Zarkh, Hawthorn Woods, IL

Students named to the McPherson College Honorable Mention for spring 2022 include:

Evariste Abeli, Kinshasa, Congo Nicholas Acierno, Phoenix, AZ Cori Alexander, Haslet, TX Andres Artola, Miami, FL Sarah Asher, Kansas City, MO Victoria Ates, Dallas, TX Robert Aurner, Topeka, KS Mason Ball, Spring, TX Ellen Barrett, McPherson, KS Harley Blaske, Sylvia, KS Cameron Boyce, Tebbetts, MO Thomas Boyer, Rogers, AR Tate Brewer, McPherson, KS Chase Brous, Hays, KS Kobe Brown, Balch Springs, TX Hannah Butler, McPherson, KS Julia Canales, Big Spring, TX James Canar, Longmont, CO Cassandra Carmichael, Raleigh, NC Noah Carpenter, Kearney, NE Kevinn Castillo, Miami, FL Arian Cervoni Ortiz, Conroe, TX Joe Chapman, Roeland Park, KS Zane Cornejo, Wellington, KS Cailey Cornett, Lindsborg, KS Katherine Corrigan, Phoenix, AZ Moriah Delgado, Saginaw, TX Prince Difima, Kinshasa, Congo Zachary Dittert, Hillsboro, KS Dyron Dixon, Leander, TX Paul Calvin Dusabe, Commune De Limete, Zaire Thomas Eichelberger, Euless, TX Sierra Flanigan, Wichita, KS Rolando Fletes, San Tan Valley, AZ Joshua Fowler, Round Rock, TX Hayden Fry, Cushing, OK Summer Garcia, Ontario, CA Nathaniel Gaut, Scottdale, PA Miranda Gaytan, Edinburg, TX Darby Gilbert, Bay Minette, AL Riley Granger, Lebanon, IN Tavian Gray, Hutchinson, KS Graedon Green, McPherson, KS Samuel Grim, Johnstown, CO Sean Guzman, Aurora, CO Nathan Hall, Windsor, NY Addie Heitschmidt, Lindsborg, KS Clayton Henderson, Dexter, KS Kelly Hoffman, Wysox, PA Dashawn Holliman, Fresno, CA Bailey Hulce, Baldwin City, KS Carlos Jacobo, Great Bend, KS Trevor Johnson, La Mesa, CA Jacob Jonas, Cedarburg, WI Eli Jordan, Claremore, OK Lasheicka Joseph, West Palm Beach, FL Jennyfer Kemper, Creede, CO Jordan Kingcaid, Fort Worth, TX Morgan Kobe, Fate, TX Carson Lambakis, Yukon, OK Matthew Mahan, Topeka, KS Isabel Medina, Garden City, KS Emma Meinholdt, Topeka, KS Michael Mercer, Topeka, KS Martin Millos, Vigo, Spain, Khalil Morris, Tulsa, OK Nathan Muamba, Kinshasa, Congo Colin Murphy, Garnet Valley, PA Tyler Natkin, Warrington, PA Tyler Neshyba, Anna, TX Immanuel Newsome, Yukon, OK Anselm Nyambuka, Arlington, TX Brett Oden, Sterling, KS Kayla Ortiz, Brownsville, TX Frances Parish, Anderson, MO Calijah Peay, Glenn Heights, TX Andrew Penrose, McPherson, KS Carissa Peters, Frisco, TX Katelyn Potestio, Mansfield, TX Dryden Powell, Council Grove, KS Joseph Ramirez, Hutchinson, KS Chloe Ramirez, Pearland, TX Melvin Reid, Waterford Works, NJ Dustin Rhoads, Tonganoxie, KS Parker Roberts, Carbondale, KS Hunter Robinson, Edgewood, TX Wildiomar Roman Morales, Vega Alta, PR Christopher Roshell, Grand Prairie, TX Kento Saiki, McPherson, KS Gustavo Sanchez, Hidalgo, TX Robert Schmidt, Litchfield Park, AZ Kaitlyn Sedlack, Broken Arrow, OK Brianna Shaw, Tulsa, OK Jordan Simmons, Royse City, TX TiJanae Simmons, Baytown, TX Naomi Smith, Farmington, NM Riley Sojka, Wichita, KS James Solomon, McKinleyville, CA Rebecca Steffen, Vinton, IA Oliver Stout, Sandusky, OH Genesis Thompson, Austin, TX Alexander Van Patten, Almena, KS Isaiah Vazquez, Montebello, CA Lacy Weaver, Midlothian, TX Zhiyuan Wei, Guangdong, China John Wells II, Newton, KS Lucas Williams Fernandez, London, UK Collin Young, Garland, TX

OKLAHOMA CITY — A young Jocelyn Alo was prepared to play softball at Oregon instead of Oklahoma.

The 13-year-old from Hawaii was already drawing recruiting interest when she visited a camp run by the Pac-12 school. She was extended a scholarship offer from the Oregon head coach, but wanted to make one more trip to another camp at Arizona, where no offer was provided.

“I’m ready to make my lifelong decision at 13, and I called Mike White and said that I had wanted to be a Duck, and the offer wasn’t on the table anymore,” Alo said. “I don’t know what happened. Yeah, didn’t go to Oregon.”

White, who is now the Texas Longhorns head coach, said pulling back an offer to Alo was “probably the worst day of my coaching career” during Tuesday’s Women’s College World Series news conference.

OU and Texas will meet for a national championship this week. The best-of-3 series begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium.

Of course, Alo’s plans changed and she committed to Oklahoma on her 18th birthday. She has gone on to hit 120 home runs, which is an NCAA Division I record, and has become the most feared hitter in the sport.

Levi Alo explained his daughter’s recruiting process, which almost linked her to the current Texas coach.

“Oklahoma wasn’t even on our radar. We were coming from Hawaii and I was just looking at the West Coast,” Levi Alo said, who also added UCLA as an early target. “I didn’t open up the recruiting any farther than that.”

After visiting Arizona with her good friend Dejah Mulipola (who would later play for the Wildcats), Alo had a talk with her father.

“She said ‘I want to go to Oregon’, so I said ‘OK, let’s do it,’” Levi Alo said. “She called (White), and he told her I don’t have the offer for you anymore.

“Then she told me ‘I want to go to Cal because I want to beat them every year.’”

White, who moved from Oregon to Texas prior to the 2019 season, smiled when saying it was probably the worst day of his coaching career.

“At the time what happened was we were looking for a catcher, and Jocelyn wasn’t catching at that time. She had been moved from that position … she said ‘I want to commit to you.’ I said, ‘Well, we’ve kind of changed our priorities and what we want to do,’” White said.

“Bad move. Everything happens for a reason, and Jocelyn found the place that was best for her. Obviously, the rest is history, and she’s just been a tremendous ballplayer. She’s great for the sport, and I’m sure she’s going to have a great career going forward.”

Jocelyn Alo would later decommit from Cal because she wanted to win a national championship, Levi Alo said.

The recruiting door was reopened and the Alos considered Florida and Auburn.

Then OU entered the mix.

“Oklahoma was coming off a national championship,” Levi Alo said. “I thought she could play with (former OU players Falepolima Aviu and Sydney Romero) with the (travel team) Batbusters. She could play with the best of them.

“We took a trip out to Oklahoma. We loved Coach Patty. It was a great program. The key, to me, was Patty was so honest. She didn’t have 100% (funding) for her. She didn’t have a full ride for her. But she said ‘things change, Levi. I can’t promised you anything I don’t have right now,’” Levi Alo said.

“Sure enough, before we stepped on campus, she called her and said ‘I got you. You don’t have to worry about it.’”

Alo has since become one of the most beloved players in OU history.

“She’s special,” Gasso said. “I like to use the phrase she’s made differently and quite in her own mold.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to have her wearing the Sooner uniform.”

TULSA, OK – Tulsa pitcher Gavin Stone is highly ranked in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system as the organization’s ninth-best pitching prospect according MLB.com. If Tuesday night’s outing is any indication, that rating might be going even higher.

Stone was almost flawless in a near record-breaking performance at ONEOK Field. The Central Arkansas product delivered six shutout outings, allowing only 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 13 to help the Drillers to a 5-2 win over Northwest Arkansas.

BOXSCORE

The strikeout total was just one short of the ONEOK Field record set by Dustin May when he struck out 14 Amarillo hitters on June 22, 2019.

Since being promoted to Tulsa on May 15 from High-A Great Lakes, Stone has been dominant. In four starts now with the Drillers, he has worked 22.0 total innings, allowing just 1 run and 3 walks while striking out 36.

In Tuesday’s win, Stone got plenty of backing from another top prospect. Andy Pages, currently ranked as the fourth-best overall prospect within the Dodgers organization, hit two home runs to lead Tulsa’s offense.

The first homer from Pages came in the second inning and produced the game’s first run.

Later in the second, three straight singles from Carson Taylor, Ryan Ward and Justin Yurchak gave Tulsa a 2-0 lead.

In the fifth, James Outman doubled in front of Devin Mann’s seventh homer of the year to make it 4-0.

Tulsa’s lead grew to five runs when Pages struck again in the sixth inning with his second homer of the game and his eighth of the year.

Stone departed after six inning and Aaron Ochsenbein followed on the mound with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

The Naturals broke through against Alec Gamboa and Nick Robertson in the eighth. Gamboa gave up a leadoff double, followed by a one-out walk. After a strikeout, Robertson replaced Gamboa and walked a batter and hit another to force in a run that trimmed Tulsa’s lead to 5-1. He escaped further damage by striking out Seuly Matias to end the threat.

A solo home run with two outs in the ninth from John Rave off Guillermo Zuniga closed out the scoring.

HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:

*The win for Stone improved his record with the Drillers to 2-1. Overall, he is now a combined 4-2 on the season between Great Lakes and Tulsa. His Double-A ERA is 0.41.

*In addition to his two home runs, Pages hit his second triple of the year in the bottom of the fourth. He finished the game 3-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in.

*The win was the second straight for the Drillers following a season high four-game losing streak.

*Ochsenbein has now held the opponent scoreless in 9 of his 11 outings this season.

*The game took just 2 hours and 12 minutes to complete.

*It has become official that the Drillers will not make up the two games that were cancelled in San Antonio this past weekend due to health and safety concerns within the Missions roster. With the cancellations the Drillers are now scheduled to play a total of 66 games in the first half of the season and 136 overall.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers and Naturals will have a quick turnaround for game two of their six-game series, facing off at 12:05 p.m. Wednesday afternoon at ONEOK Field.

The starting pitchers are slated to be:

NW Arkansas – LHP Dante Biasi (4-0 4.19 ERA)

Tulsa – RHP Clayton Beeter (0-2, 5.04 ERA)

The Tulsa school board approved a $653 million preliminary budget for the 2022-23 school year on Monday night.

Under state law, districts have to approve at least a preliminary budget before the start of the fiscal year on July 1 but can make revisions during the fiscal year as conditions warrant.

The preliminary budget includes an anticipated $13.3 million reduction in state aid for the 2022-23 school year due in part to a change in the state aid funding formula.

To offset that potential hit, the preliminary budget calls for pulling $17 million out of the district’s fund balance, as well as using federal COVID-19 relief funds to maintain current staffing levels.

“With House Bill 2078, we don’t know what the actual revenue is going to be,” Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer Jorge Robles said. “We had to use an estimate based on what we’re going to see next fall.

“The appropriation from the state is a flat budget, so there’s no increase to cover for inflationary costs.”

The upcoming school year is the first one in which HB 2078 is in effect. Passed by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2021, the law requires state aid to be based on either a district’s initial current enrollment numbers or the previous year’s enrollment, whichever of the two is largest.

The initial current enrollment numbers will not be finalized until Oct. 1.

Prior to the law’s enactment, school districts were able to use the highest enrollment number among three school years to determine per-pupil funding.

For the current school year’s budget, Tulsa Public Schools was able to use its student count from 2019-20, which was 35,676.

By comparison, the district’s enrollment for 2021-22 was 33,470, and its projected enrollment for 2022-23 is 32,784.

“What we utilized to build the budget is a slight decrease from where we were in October,” Robles said. “We are expecting slower recovery in early grades, but we are working towards that number to be higher.

“Given that we don’t know yet what the (enrollment) number is, we have to use an estimate.

“We want to be conservative in our estimate for the budget.”

Due to inflation, the budget includes an extra 5% for utility costs and a 50% increase for fuel costs compared to 2021-22.

The preliminary budget was approved by a 6-1 vote, with Jerry Griffin casting the lone no vote. However, one of the board members who voted in support of the budget made it clear that she would like more notice in future years to allow for more time to digest the 153-page document.

“I just want to state that I’m concerned and disturbed that I got this late Friday,” Jennettie Marshall said. “All day today, when I wasn’t in meetings, I was taking calls from constituents who are concerned about this.

“In the future, I would hope we’d take the opportunity to get the budget out faster for the sake of transparency.”