SEMINOLE — An application seeking to open one of Oklahoma's first rural charter schools will come before the state Board of Education following a local school board's vote to deny.

The Academy of Seminole filed an application with Seminole Public Schools earlier this year in an attempt to open as a charter school next year. The Seminole school board rejected the application in October and again Monday by a vote of 4-0.

“This is not about Seminole specifically, this is about a greater debate going on and we are the guinea pigs that school choice proponents have exploited,” said Jack Cadenhead, president of the Seminole School Board.

A change in Oklahoma law last year allowed charter schools to open in communities beyond Oklahoma City and Tulsa for the first time. If approved, Seminole would become just the second charter school to open outside the state's two largest cities.