State Board of Education approves $2.2 billion

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- The state Board of Education is sending a more than two (B) billion dollar budget to the Legislature for final approval next year.

The board approved the 2001-2002 school year budget at its monthly meeting today in Oklahoma City. It's an increase of 270 (M) million dollars from last year's budget.

The board says it knows all of its requests won't be fulfilled, but board members hope the Legislature will allocate enough money to comply with legislative mandates, such as lower student-teacher ratios and increased funding of the teacher retirement system.

Most of the budget pays for basic support of the state's 544 school districts. The increase is slated to go toward more money for teacher salaries, for mentors for first-year teachers and for computer equipment in classrooms.