Budget cuts could close entire school district

PANOLA, Okla. (KTUL) — Tulsa Public Schools isn’t the only district strapped for cash. In smaller communities, districts could be forced to completely shut down.

The Panola School District has been here before. Almost 20 percent cut from the budget, leaving them short enough to close the doors for good.

Each pen stroke is a new plea. Almost a thousand envelopes are going to people in the community asking for help.

“Panola will be forgotten,” says Ashley Colbert. “It will be a church and that’ll be it.”

“It’s hard to pay for your electric,” says Superintendent Brad Corcoran. “Your gas, your buses, your insurance, everything.”

Panola Public Schools just more than 150 kids, K-12, and what could be the final graduating class of Bearcats.

“Children are our future,” Colbert says. “And we’re not giving them what they need to be prepared for the future.”

“Parents are very afraid and nervous about what holds for them and their children,” says Corcoran.

“Having the thought of not having Panola next year,” says parent Marcus Kirk. “It definitely adds a lot of stress thinking what are you going to do?”

They’re about $120,000 short to keep the doors open next year. It doesn’t sound like much compared to the $12 million TPS has to find. But, to a small district, it’s a catastrophic figure.

“You think of $100,000 to a bigger school district,” Kirk says. “It’s a drop in the bucket. But I don’t know exactly what percentage, 10-20 percent, it’s devastating.”

“No matter how hard you work,” Corcoran says. “No matter how much you try to save, no matter how much you try to cut, it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.”

And if the schools close, there’s not much left in Panola.

“If you take the school you lose the community,” Colbert says. “You lose your community’s identity, we’re just going to become part of Wilburton.”

You can donate to try and keep the school open by sending anything you can to the address below.

Panola School

P.O. Box 6

Panola, OK 74559