ACE appeals to be considered at special State Board of Ed meeting

Oklahoma Capitol - A special meeting of the State Board of Education has been called tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 3 at 10 a.m.

The special meeting was called so the Board could consider four Achieving Classroom Excellence appeals from Tulsa. These four appeals were held over from the last regular Board meeting. 

A law passed during the 2012 Legislative Session guarantees an appeal to the State Board of Education for students who are denied a standard diploma for failing to meet the ACE graduation standards. The special Board meeting is necessary because the law requires appeals to be acted on by the Board within 45 days. 

So far, the number of appeals submitted to the board is significantly fewer than was predicted by many who opposed the standards and were recently attempting to roll them back. The vast majority of the appeals received by the Board have come from students who were enrolled in school districts in Tulsa County. 

The class of 2012 is the first to have to meet the new graduation requirements. When the standards were passed in 2005, it was predicted that 22 percent of students graduating in 2012 would fail to meet the standards and that remediation costs would be significantly higher than has been the case. Early information indicates that more than 90 percent of seniors this year have met the standards. 

The board will hear public comment and is then expected to convene in executive session to discuss the appeals before returning to open session to vote.

The meeting will be held in the regular meeting room at the Oliver Hodge Building, 2500 N. Lincoln Blvd., Suite 1-20, Oklahoma City.