TULSA, Okla. — Tuesday marked day 28 of the government shutdown and four days from the suspension of SNAP benefits for families across the state and the country.
On Saturday, SNAP benefits will end temporarily. Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson said that with so many TPS students and their families on SNAP benefits, families can make sure their kids go to school to eat breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria.
She said those meals are not impacted by the shutdown and will continue to be served free for TPS students.
“All of our students currently eat for free in Tulsa Public Schools. We’re going to continue to enforce to our families to please encourage your families to eat the food that we serve,” said Dr. Johnson. “Come on in and eat breakfast and eat lunch. It’s so important because of SNAP benefits being taken away; it does not affect that.”
Dr. Johnson said there will be a meeting between the district and city leaders and even some nonprofits on Wednesday to come up with ways to help families get food on nights and weekends once benefits are suspended on Saturday.
Dr. Johnson also gave her State of the District address on Tuesday morning. She said two years after taking over as TPS Superintendent, there are many things to be excited about, but there’s still a lot of work to be done in the classroom and across the district.
“We are very proud of some of the gains that we are seeing within Tulsa Public Schools in the past two years under my superintendency,” said Dr. Johnson. “We have made progress, and we are celebrating that progress while also being very mindful that there are things we are going to continue to work towards and we know there is more work to be done.”
Dr. Johnson mentioned some of Tulsa Public Schools’ top achievements in her speech. She said the average attendance rate is up and chronic absenteeism is down.
In grades where proficiency is tested, English and math scores are up, and proficiency is higher than the state average.
Test scores improved at every grade level, and more than 1,000 students are also enrolled in career pathway programs at Tulsa Tech and Tulsa Community College while completing their high school education.
Dr. Johnson also said more than 98 percent of certified teaching positions are filled across the district, but there is still more work to be done.
The district will ask voters to approve a new bond package next spring and insists it will not raise taxes.
Dr. Johnson gave a preview of the bond package being put together during her State of the District address.
She said TPS students deserve the same kind of athletic and extracurricular activity equipment that nearby school districts get. She also said things to support students wanting to go into the workforce after graduating should also be supported, but more specifics will be coming later this year.
“We are looking forward to proposing a new bond package in the spring of 2026 that will not raise taxes,” said Dr. Johnson.
She said she knows voters are a bit leery after law enforcement and the State Auditor’s Office tied the 2021 bond package to waste, fraud, and abuse, but Dr. Johnson said there are many new safeguards in place, including fraud detection software that will make it much harder for any new funds coming into the district to be misused.
