Oklahoma Education Board Downgrades 59 Districts Under New Academic Accreditation Rule

The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Thursday to place 59 school districts in the "accredited with warning" category, marking the first time the state has enforced a relatively new rule linking accreditation to academic results. Eight other districts received the same designation for reasons unrelated to academics.

According to State Department of Education documents, the warning status applies when a deficiency "seriously detracts" from the quality of a district's education program. Under the rule, a district's standing is penalized if more than half of its students score "below basic" on the annual state reading or math tests for two consecutive years.

Students who score below basic have not shown even partial mastery of grade-level content, a result that signals they are not on track to be college or career ready by the end of high school.

For 56 of the 59 affected districts, the academic deficiency was the sole reason for the downgrade, the department said. If their test scores do not improve by 5%, they could fall further to probation, which would bring a range of additional state oversight.

Board member Becky Carson said before the vote that her main concern was ensuring the state and the agency support these districts so they can move off the list.

The rule took effect in the 2025-26 school year, but the downgrades rely on scores from 2023-24 and 2024-25, since more recent results were not yet available during accreditation reviews, the agency said.

The list includes the state's three largest districts: Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma City Public Schools and Epic Charter School. Epic, a virtual charter school with about 29,000 students, said it is not waiting for a designation to drive improvement. Superintendent Shaun Ross said the school is putting in place targeted academic interventions, strengthening instruction and prioritizing student growth. He noted that Epic has met all operational accreditation requirements and argued the new standard relies on historical data that "does not fully capture the academic progress currently underway."

Oklahoma City, with about 31,000 students, said it understood when the rule was approved that it would not reach the threshold this cycle based on the historical data used. The district said that context matters but does not change its responsibility to keep strengthening instruction so more students reach grade-level expectations. Tulsa, which enrolls more than 32,000 students, said its results show momentum over three consecutive years. Both districts said they outpaced statewide growth rates on the annual tests.

Former state Superintendent Ryan Walters proposed the rule in 2024, saying that adding academics to annual reviews would hold districts accountable. Gov. Kevin Stitt approved it after the Legislature took no action. Previously, accreditation depended on compliance with state laws, financial standards and other governance and operational requirements. Some education advocates and legislative Democrats opposed the change, arguing it would unfairly penalize districts with higher poverty rates and more students learning English as a second language.

Elsewhere in the accreditation results, 358 districts were accredited with no deficiencies, 100 had one deficiency, and 25 had more than one.