CATOOSA — With a compact renewal deadline looming, Cherokee Nation officials distributed $7.9 million in car tag revenue to 107 school districts and charter schools Tuesday.
“If we cannot reach an agreement to renew the compact with Gov. (Kevin) Stitt, the compact comes to an end,” Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “If the compact comes to an end, the very framework which allows us to fund education and a great many other public investments comes to an end.”
Thanks to a one-year extension, the Cherokee Nation’s current car tag compacts are currently set to lapse on Dec. 31. The tribe signed two agreements with the state in 2013 — one for tags sold to tribal citizens who live in a county at least partially within the tribe’s reservation and one for tags sold to citizens who live in any other Oklahoma county.
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Under Cherokee Nation statutes, the tribe allocates 38% of its car tag revenue directly to education. School districts and charter schools that are at least partially in a county that falls within the Cherokee Nation reservation receive money based on the number of Cherokee students enrolled, but administrators are allowed to use the money however they see fit.
For example, Tulsa Public Schools puts its donation entirely toward its Indian Education program, while Broken Arrow Public Schools used its 2023 contribution to hire additional security guards.
School districts and charter schools in Tulsa County received a combined $1.72 million Tuesday, more than any other county within the tribe’s reservation. Rogers County schools received the third largest combined total, with $843,608.85 distributed among those districts.
Over the last two decades, the tribe has donated $92 million in car tag revenue to public education.
Addressing school leaders and tribal officials at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino as part of the Cherokee Nation’s Public School Appreciation Day, Hoskin cited the tribe’s continued donations to public education and urged attendees to reach out to their elected officials in support of renewing the compacts as they are currently worded.
“You know the old saying, ‘If it ain’t broke, why fix it?’” Hoskin said, noting that the tribe is prepared to seek an additional extension from the state Legislature if necessary. “There’s nothing to fix on this compact. The only thing we need to do in this state is to continue to do what works, and this compact works.”
Under its current compacts, the Cherokee Nation’s vehicle tags are all sold through the tribe’s Tax Commission, which employs about 80 people. The fee rates are separate for tags sold to tribal citizens who live in a county at least partially within the Cherokee Reservation versus those who live elsewhere in Oklahoma.
In an email, Stitt spokeswoman Abegail Cave said the Governor’s Office is continuing to negotiate in good faith with the Cherokee Nation and pointed to the Chickasaw and Choctaw compacts as “the better deal” for both the state and those tribes.
The Chickasaw and Choctaw compacts provide for their vehicle tags to be sold at state-operated tag agencies at the same price as a standard state-issued tag, with their citizens receiving a 20% rebate through the tribe. Both were initially signed under Gov. Mary Fallin’s administration after the Cherokee Nation’s agreements were reached in 2013.
“We are continuing to negotiate in good faith with the Cherokee Nation and trust the same courtesy is being reciprocated,” Cave wrote. “The Chickasaw and Choctaw tag compacts were negotiated and entered into by the Fallin administration after the Cherokee compact had been agreed to and were seen as the better deal for both the state and the tribes. They provide complete transparency, and I think you’d be hard pressed to argue that schools in that part of the state are worse off because of the terms of the compact.”
Hoskin said Tuesday that while he respects the Chickasaw and Choctaw compacts, their structure does not suit his tribe. If the compacts are not renewed, the Cherokee Nation would exercise its sovereignty and continue to issue car tags, but only to tribal citizens who live within the Cherokee reservation, he said.
In the Tulsa area, that would exclude Cherokee citizens who live south of Admiral Boulevard, as well as those who live in Jenks, Bixby, Broken Arrow and other southern suburbs.
“If there’s no compact, we recognize that our authority then is contracted to our reservation,” he said. “That’s not good for Cherokees that live outside of the Cherokee Nation.”