Oklahoma Supreme Court Approves $50M in Bonds for Endowed Chairs

Upon ruling in favor of a $50 million bonds issue last month, the Oklahoma Supreme Court cleared the way for an endowed chairs program at colleges and universities throughout the state .

Gov. Brad Henry signed HB 1904 in April 2004 to eliminate the backlog of endowed chair programs at Oklahoma colleges and universities, which is a priority of his Economic Development Generating Excellence initiative (see the May 3, 2004 issue of the Digest). According to budget figures, $52 million in private donations was available for matching states funds for the program. However, the program was put on hold following a constitutional challenge by former head of Common Cause of Oklahoma Edwin Kessler and Oklahoma City attorney Jerry Fent, the Daily Oklahoman reports.

According to the challengers, the bonds created an unconstitutional debt, the article states. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the bonds are payable only by the state regents and cannot become debts of the state.

Bonds will be issued by the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority and may be sold as early as this month, providing needed funding to hire new faculty by next fall, said Maryanne Meletz, higher education vice chancellor for budget and finance, in the Tulsa World. The bill does not require additional appropriations to the state regents, but allows the regents to provide $7.5 million in its budget base as security for the bond.