Despite fears over the future of a popular online platform that provides dozens of Oklahoma school districts with Advanced Placement classes, its long-term funding is not in danger, the chair of the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee says.
State officials have warned that the Horizon Digitally Enhanced Campus could be forced to shut down, because the Legislature didn’t provide any funding for Horizon for the current fiscal year, which began July 1. The agency is using carryover money to fund the program for now.
But Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, told The Oklahoman on Monday, Sept. 8, that he sees the Horizon Digitally Enhanced Campus as a success story. He said questions over its current funding have come only because the Legislature wants to get a handle on how much the platform actually costs before providing funding for it.
The Statewide Charter School Board provides Horizon programming to 380 school districts and thousands of students. The platform offers 26 Advanced Placement or pre-AP courses and 32 non-AP courses.
Oklahoma public high schools have been required to offer at least four AP courses since 2020. Many districts – especially those in rural areas of the state – have struggled to meet its requirements. Horizon provides those districts with a cost-effective way to do so, as the platform is free for them to use.
During its meeting on Monday, members of the Statewide Charter School Board expressed both concern for the program’s future and confidence the Legislature would provide financially for Horizon, perhaps through a supplemental funding request early in the 2026 legislative session, which will begin in February.
“We hope it’s one of the very first things that they take care of,” said Brian Shellem, the board’s chair. “Every legislator I’ve talked to understands the need, especially as you’ve seen the growth with all these small and rural districts.”
Statewide Charter School Board chair Brian Shellem is hopeful the Legislature will provide a supplemental funding request for a popular online learning platform.
Pugh said when the Statewide Charter School Board came into existence on July 1, 2024, legislators knew they would need to figure out exactly how much money the new agency would need for operations. By not appropriating money for the Horizon program this year, Pugh said, it will allow legislators to make that determination.
“We knew that budget, for a year or two, we were going to have to figure out what it really takes to run the agency, and then at the same time, the new agency was asking for an upgrade to the Horizon system,” Pugh said. “When it was originally presented to us, we thought that ($3.4 million budget request for Horizon) was going to be more of a one-time capital expenditure, as opposed to an ongoing maintenance effort.
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During a presentation to the board on Monday, Lisa Daniels, Horizon’s director, said the number of Oklahoma school districts using Horizon has grown from 35 in the 2021-22 school year to 380 for the current school year. In 2025-26, she said, more than 33,514 students will be served by Horizon, a sign of the growth in acceptance of online learning since the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020.
“Brick by brick, they’ve built that program,” said Rebecca Wilkinson, the state agency’s executive director. “It’s great. We appreciate the superintendents for standing up with us and saying we continue to need to grow this program and support this program.”
The Statewide Charter School Board claims Horizon will save districts about $3.69 million during the 2025-26 school year, which Shellem believes justifies the $3.4 million the board asked for – but did not receive – for the current fiscal year.
“This is available to any, not just charter schools, but any public school,” Shellem said. “When you look at the budgetary and the buying power, just the savings alone would go away would cost the state more than what the budget we’re asking for. It seems kind of crazy why you would want to eliminate that.”
Sen. Adam Pugh speaks at Public Schools Day, the centerpiece of Public Schools Week at the Oklahoma state Capitol , Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
Pugh said there is little need to be concerned about the program’s future, which he sees as bright.
“It’s a great online tool,” Pugh said. “It’s very successful. I have heard from schools it’s a really good tool. So now we’ll just have an accurate (budget) number for what it really takes to leverage this resource and provide it to all the students who want it available to them, whether it be in their charter-school district or in their traditional public-school district.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma lawmakers did not fund online platform for AP classes
