PUBLIC SRV6PF32'B' : AEP Foundation, PSO Donate $65,000 to Fund Community Schools Initiatives

Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO), on behalf of the AEP Foundation and in collaboration with the Foundation for Tulsa Schools and Tulsa Public Schools, today announced a gift of $65,000 to help fund Tulsa Public Schools' Community Schools initiative, including two literacy programs at Community Schools, the Literacy First and the Literacy Tutoring programs, and the launch of a new Community Schools Institute. The Institute will be named the AEP Foundation Community School Institute.

The announcement was made today at Gilcrease Elementary School, which is transitioning to become the ninth community school in the Tulsa Public Schools district.

"PSO and the AEP Foundation strive to improve the quality of life in the communities where our employees live and work. We are especially pleased to provide this donation to the Foundation for Tulsa Schools, on behalf of Tulsa Public Schools, PSO's largest public school district. TPS is leading the way in providing educational assistance through literacy and tutoring programs, and by launching needed initiatives like the new AEP Foundation Community Schools Institute," said Stuart Solomon, president and chief operating officer, Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

"PSO has had a long-standing financial commitment to education programs for educators and students of all ages in our state. We view our investment in education programming and support for this new Institute as planting seeds of opportunity for our children's future," he added.

PSO was one of the first corporate citizens in Oklahoma to advocate for and fund preschool education programs and, in recent years, it has launched educator and student science workshops, with the help of the AEP Foundation. Since 2004, PSO and the AEP Foundation have donated more than $700,000 for early childhood literacy programs across the state and funded classroom teacher grants and other educational programs for students in grades Pre-K through 12. 2

Specifically, the AEP Foundation grant of $65,000 announced today will:

- Fund for one year the Tulsa Public Schools Literacy First program, which will sustain curriculum development and support classroom reading instruction.

- Fund for one year the TPS Literacy Tutoring program. TPS uses college students for the tutoring program.

- Fund the first-ever AEP Foundation Community Schools Institute, which is slated to start in July 2012. The Institute is a monthly educational forum and training program for veteran teachers, future educators, administrators and community leaders to study key attributes so they can help lead and guide the community schools model within the system.

PSO, a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), is an electric utility company serving more than 530,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma. With headquarters in Tulsa, PSO has 4,405 megawatts of generating capacity and provides electricity to 230 cities and towns across a service area encompassing 30,000 square miles. News releases and other information about PSO can be found on the World Wide Web at PSOklahoma.com.