New Bill Seeks to Expand College Access for Local Students with Support from Broken Arrow Leaders

A bill being considered in the Oklahoma state legislature would give students in Wagoner County and Broken Arrow Public Schools new opportunities for a college education.

The bill, sponsored by Senator John Haste, has the backing of Broken Arrow city leaders. Broken Arrow City Manager Michael Spurgeon joined News On 6 to explain Senate Bill 701 and how the City of Broken Arrow is supporting it.

"Essentially it does two things. Number one, it clarifies that the NSU BA (Northeastern State University Broken Arrow) campus is within Broken Arrow and not the Tulsa metropolitan area. And second, it would allow NSU BA to offer lower division courses with their upper-division courses, which essentially would make it a public four-year university."

Expanded Access and Pathways for Local Students

Spurgeon sees this bill as an important step in providing more educational choices for students in the Broken Arrow area.

"Right now, the student population in the broken area public school district is around 20,000," Spurgeon explained. "There's about a third of those kids that live in Wagoner County that don't have access to the Achieves program, which, by the way, is an amazing program for those kids that live in Tulsa County. So this one gives them that opportunity to actually be able to go to a university at home, which creates a pathway for them to be able to get their four-year degree right here in the Tulsa metropolitan specifically Broken Arrow."

Broken Arrow's Long-Term Investment and Support

The city of Broken Arrow has a long history of supporting the development of the NSU BA campus, dating back 35 years when the city purchased the land and donated it to the university. Broken Arrow voters have also approved temporary sales tax measures totaling $43 million to fund the campus' facilities and infrastructure.

"This is something we think would be beneficial to us in terms of growing not only economic development but social development, by actually creating more job opportunities, allowing kids that graduate from broken air to stay here," said Spurgeon.

The city believes the bill will help retain local graduates and fill jobs in the growing Tulsa metropolitan area.