{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-70-70-5-145","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-5-145","heading":"Local foundation and public school/business partnerships","body":"- Foundation gifts, grants and donations.\n\nA. District school boards of education should be encouraged to\n\nexplore the potential benefits of local foundations and public\n\nschool/business partnerships as supplements to basic programs\n\npublicly funded.\n\nB. No local foundation, as defined in subsection C of this\n\nsection, shall make, and no public school, public school personnel,\n\nor school district shall accept, any gift, grant or donation of real\n\nor personal property from any local foundation unless the local\n\nfoundation complies with the requirements of this section and with\n\nsuch other requirements for such organization as are required by\n\nTitle 18 of the Oklahoma Statutes.\n\nC. As used in this section, \"local foundation\" means any\n\ncompany, trust, corporation or association:\n\n1. that solicits money or property in the name of any public\n\nschool district, public school or public school organization; and\n\n2. which is exempt from federal income taxes or is verifiably\n\nand in good faith in the process of obtaining federal tax exemption\n\nstatus pursuant to the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the\n\nInternal Revenue Code. If the local foundation is in the process of\n\nobtaining exemption status in accordance with this paragraph, the\n\nlocal foundation may make gifts, grants or donations pursuant to\n\nthis section provided it has advised the district board of education\n\nof the status of any application for tax exemption and continues to\n\nprovide the board such information each year thereafter.\n\nAny local foundation which has been denied such exemption or\n\nceases to qualify for such exemption by the Internal Revenue Service\n\nshall not be authorized to function pursuant to this section.\n\nD. Student organizations or club projects whose revenue may be\n\ndeposited in a school activity fund or account pursuant to Section\n\n5-129 of this title shall not be considered \"local foundations\".\n\nE. Only school districts, public schools, school personnel and\n\nstudents or direct functions of a school district may be the\n\nbeneficiaries of any awards, grants or other benefits of a local\n\nfoundation.\n\nF. The board of education of any school district in this state\n\nmay refuse to accept any donation of real or personal property\n\noffered by or through a local foundation and shall have the final\n\nauthority to accept or refuse to accept any grant or award offered\n\nby a local foundation for the benefit of the school district.\n\nG. In order to assure the fairness, objectivity, and integrity\n\nof its operations, and that its purposes and policies are consistent\n\nwith the goals of the State Board of Education, the board of\n\neducation of the school district may consider the process used in\n\nselecting recipients of benefits or merit awards by any local\n\nfoundation in deciding whether to accept or reject the gift, grant\n\nor donation.\n\nH. No employee of the district shall be a voting member of a\n\nlocal foundation board which is established in that school district.\n\nMembers of the board of education may serve on the board of a local\n\nfoundation, but shall not constitute a majority of the members of\n\nthe board of directors of the foundation. No other elected official\n\nof state or local government shall be compensated by the local\n\nfoundation. The total number of ex officio local foundation members\n\nshall be less than the number of voting members of the local\n\nfoundations. No ex officio member of the local foundation board or\n\nemployee of the school district shall be compensated by the local\n\nfoundation for service as an ex officio member of the local\n\nfoundation.\n\nI. Any local foundation which makes a gift, grant or donation\n\nto any school district, public school, or school personnel of this\n\nstate, regardless of when established, shall make all of its\n\nfinancial records and documents available to auditors who are\n\nperforming audits of the school district. Such financial records\nocal\n\nfoundation for service as an ex officio member of the local\n\nfoundation.\n\nI. Any local foundation which makes a gift, grant or donation\n\nto any school district, public school, or school personnel of this\n\nstate, regardless of when established, shall make all of its\n\nfinancial records and documents available to auditors who are\n\nperforming audits of the school district. Such financial records\n\nand documents, other than the list of contributors, shall be open\n\nfor public inspection upon written request by any person.\n\nJ. A public school district shall not directly or indirectly\n\ntransfer any funds to any local foundation or render services or\n\nprovide any thing of value to any local foundation without receiving\n\ndocumented adequate payment or reimbursement therefor according to\n\nwritten contract. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting\n\npayment by the district of claims for expenses of fund-raising for\n\nthe benefit of the district if such fund-raising activities are\n\napproved in advance by the district board of education and made a\n\npart of the minutes of the meeting of the board. Nothing herein\n\nshall be construed as prohibiting the district from providing space\n\nin a school district building or on school district property to the\n\nfoundation for office or business purposes in exchange for the\n\nfinancial benefits provided to the district by the foundation if\n\napproved by the district board of education and made a part of the\n\nminutes of the meeting of the board.","path":["OK Code","Title 70"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os70.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"2f1ce5721e08c4d6c7a85c95e55b0f081744cf131857bf95840a803f7c83aa6d","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-70-70-5-144","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-70-70-5-146"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}