The state of Oklahoma has expressed a commitment to finding the funds for school districts' health insurance, after turmoil through the summer due to a fiscal-year discrepancy and an apparently short budget.
When budgets for late-summer health insurance benefits appeared to be missing, the Oklahoma State School Boards Association and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration demanded lawmakers find a way to cover the shortfall.
"We look forward to identifying a funding source at the beginning of the 2012 legislative session," said Governor Mary Fallin, according to the Oklahoman. "I plan to work with legislative leaders and the education community to ensure that we have a more consistent, reliable method of funding these benefits in later years."
Approximately $33 million was missing from the benefits budget, due to an overlapping of calendars. The state's fiscal year, through which finances are figured, ends two months before the beginning of the school year. According to Tulsa World News, that discrepancy led to the funding shortfall, as end-of-the-summer pay and benefits have been appropriated from the previous fiscal year in the past. The state is working on means of financing those two months from the current budget.
