Educate Oklahoma: School Consolidations

It's the individual attention and unique environment of a rural school that John Cox said benefits the students of K-8th grade facilities like Oakdale Public School.

“We’re really more family-oriented than most schools are,” he added.

Cox is the president of the Organization of Rural Elementary Schools, which works to protect 96 rural Oklahoma elementary schools.

Right now, there are more than 500 school districts in the state and many Oklahomans think that number is too high.

In a recent News 9 poll, 68 percent of likely voters supported the idea of consolidating the administrations of school districts, so long as public schools do not close.

In February, hundreds crowded a committee meeting for a bill that could've consolidated some school services. But the bill was shot down by a House panel.

Still Cox does not expect the idea to go away, despite his belief that consolidation of rural schools is not the solution.

“Our schools do a great job academically and we’re extremely efficient with public funds and so what we say is as long as we’re doing that, just leave us alone and let us do our job,” Cox said.

Click here to view Oklahoma school consolidations and annexations from 1977-2017.