Who Funds OPSRC, and Why Do They Do It?
Our executive director explains our funders and why they support our mission.
March 30, 2016
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Our executive director explains our funders and why they support our mission.
**This post has been updated to reflect our current board members (10-16-18)
As I travel the state and meet with school leaders, I am often asked a variation of the question “who funds you and why do they do it?” I am always happy to answer this question and would like to take a moment to share my answer on our blog. As you can see on our website here, the OPSRC receives financial support from the following organizations:
These four foundations provided the funding to start the organization, and they each nominate a representative on the OPSRC’s board. These board members can be found our website here, but I’ll list them out in the blog as well:
Robert J. Ross Chair
President and CEO | Inasmuch Foundation and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
Ben Stewart
Senior Program Officer | George Kaiser Family Foundation
Scott Smith
Executive Director | Arkansas Public School Resource Center
Tracy McDaniel
School Leader | KIPP Reach College Prep
Tyler Norvell
Executive Director | Oklahoma Youth Expo
Lee Denney
State Director for USDA Rural Development in Oklahoma | United States Department of Agriculture
Adrian Beverage Treasurer
Government Relations Director, Chief Lobbyist | Oklahoma Bankers Association
Jay Chapman
President | Digimedia
As the executive director of the OPSRC, I report to the board, and we meet on a quarterly basis. Perhaps the most common question I get after highlighting the foundations and board members of the OPSRC is a variation of “why do these foundations and individuals support the OPSRC?” or put another way, “what’s the ulterior motive behind the OPSRC?” I think that this is a completely fair question to ask, and it’s one that I asked three years ago when I applied to be the executive director. This is the answer that I was told then and that I provide today: the four foundations supporting the OPSRC advocate for many different topics and issues, but they have a few common threads:
Many folks point out that the different foundations have varying agendas and approaches to improving public education in the state of Oklahoma, and I don’t disagree—if you visit the websites for the four foundations, you can see that each has its own distinct mission, but they all share a goal of improving public education in the state of Oklahoma.
I hope this helps shed light on the OPSRC. In future posts, I plan to elaborate on our mission and how we’re working to provide resources and support for public schools across our great state. Thanks for your interest!
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Amid budget cuts—and probably more budget cuts—OPSRC would like to remind you that RIF assistance is available to our member schools. Now that springtime is just around the corner, it’s a good time to begin thinking in terms of whether you need to implement a RIF for the ensuing fiscal year, and if so, what you need to do. Some RIFs are quite complex, requiring a lot of thinking through and strategizing.
Take a moment and consider: when was the last time you reviewed the effectiveness of the communication outlets you use to relay information to your parents and greater community?
I’m not sure about you, but every Friday afternoon I pack my work bag with tasks to do over the weekend, and every Monday morning I unpack the bag basically looking the same.
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