The Osage County Interlocal Cooperative, OCIC for short, is a school district cooperative (No. 57-K001) consisting of 15 school districts in seven counties; the OCIC, with headquarters in Hominy, Oklahoma, writes and manages state and federal grants for member school districts. In addition to writing and managing grants, the OCIC provides educational services including, professional development activities, technology services, special education services, curricular mapping/alignment expertise, curriculum development, tutoring services, early childhood services, assessment services, and educational consultation on various issues such as compliance with new regulations, laws, etc.
The Superintendents of the 14 member school districts provide oversight by serving on the OCIC Board of Directors; membership in the OCIC is determined by the Board of Directors. Since the OCIC does not have any taxing/revenue raising authority, operating funds consist of state and federal grants and membership fees (based on student enrollment numbers) from the member districts.
In 1993 Oklahoma House Bill 1393 authorized establishment of Interlocal Cooperative Districts. This new state law allowed "boards of education of any two or more school districts to enter into an Interlocal Cooperative agreement for the purpose of jointly and comparatively performing any of the services, duties, functions, activities, obligations or responsibilities which were authorized or required by law to be performed by school districts of the state" (HB 1393; 70 OS, Section 5-117b). Thus the existing Osage County Educational Cooperative was dissolved and the Osage County Interlocal Cooperative District 57-K001 was established beginning with the 1993-94 school year.
School Districts participating in this process were: Avant, Bowring, Burbank, Frontier, Hominy, Kaw City, Osage Hills, Shidler, Woodland and Wynona. The current membership, which is 15 school districts, has expanded to include Caney Valley, Crescent, Newkirk, Pawhuska, South Coffeyville, and Wellston; Burbank was dissolved as a school district in 2002.
The OCIC is one of ten Interlocal Cooperatives listed in the 2006-07 Oklahoma Directory of Education. Although all of the ten Interlocal Cooperative Districts provides educational services to school districts, each one is unique. The OCIC is one of Oklahoma's most comprehensive Interlocal Cooperatives providing a wide array of educational services to the member school districts.
A major goal of the OCIC is to be responsive to the educational needs of students and staff of the member school districts; by remaining sensitive to these needs and by demonstrating flexibility in the delivery of educational services, the OCIC plays a vital role in the successes of our member school districts. Securing federal discretionary grants, effectively managing the Title grants, and providing expertise as educational consultants are necessary components of our future. Federal initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act continue to provide opportunities to pursue grant funds.
Dr. Gerald W. Harris is Executive Director of the Osage County Interlocal Cooperative, Hominy, OK; with 35 years experience in K-12, Career Tech, and Higher Education, Harris began leadership of the OCIC in July, 2005
