Oklahoma Education Bill Finalized

The weeks-long standoff over education funding in Oklahoma is over.

"Simply put today, kids win, parents win, and teachers win. This is a big day for education, regardless of the means,” says Senator Greg Treat, Republican for Oklahoma City.

“This is a historic education package now for our state that is going to raise the overall investment in the state's education over the last five years that will exceed the previous 25 years,” says Representative Charles McCall, Republican for Atoka, OK.

"You're seeing historic investments in education, over 600 million in additional funding into education, which is just amazing,” says Governor Kevin Stitt.

Here is how the additional public education funding will work. Of the 625 million dollars, 500 million will be added to the education funding formula which distributes the money to public school districts around the state. That additional money includes teacher pay raises.

Another 125 million is being set aside for Redbud School Grants, which assist districts in buying or building facilities.

"We know that teachers are making decisions right now whether or not to stay or go in the classroom. And so, this will be effective by next school year,” says Senator Adam Pugh, Republican for Edmond, OK.

Out of the 500 million going into the education funding formula schools must use 286 million for teacher pay raises.

Those raises will be three to six thousand and will depend on the level of experience. They also include certified staff, not just classroom teachers.

"It's not only every teacher, it's every certified personnel in the state of Oklahoma. So, there's a statutory definition of what certified personnel is. And so, our total dollar amount, 286 million is inclusive of every certified personnel in the state of Oklahoma,” says Sen. Pugh.

Outside of public education funding, the plan is to start providing tax credits to parents of private school and home-schooled students.

For the next school year, the state will provide an opportunity for parents of private school students to receive five thousand to 75 hundred dollars in credits, depending on income level. The minimum tax credit for any income level is five thousand.

For home-school parents, there are no income requirements, but they can only receive up to one thousand dollars in tax credits if they have the receipts for education-related expenses.

The tax credit program has a cap, too, which will be raised each year through 2026.

“There's a cap on that that graduates 150 million, 250 million where it is capped. And then the future legislature can look at that if we start to butt up against that cap,” says Gov. Stitt.

When the House passed the private and home school tax credit bill, House Speaker Charles McCall used a special procedure to keep the measure from going to the governor during the impasse over funding. Once the education funding package is approved, he'll release the bill.

“Yes, we will be forwarding the tax credit bill to the governor upon passage of this public ed funding,” says Rep. McCall

The legislature also is setting aside money for paid maternity leave.

"Paid six weeks maternity leave. That's part of the package that was important to the house and the senate that we got that across the finish line,” says Gov. Stitt

That part of the plan won praise from House Democrats.

“Maternity leave is huge and we all, I believe everyone up here has supported that. That's one of the positive pieces. Not gonna lie, that's a lot of money. There's no price tag specifically on maternity leave because we don't know who will be pregnant next year. But it is something that we can support,” says Representative Melissa Provenzano, Democrat for Tulsa, OK.

However, the minority party feels some things were left out of the package brokered by Republicans. 

"Wraparound funding and support for school nurses and counselors and mental health professionals is a key piece of our plan. Getting that counselor-to-student ratio one to 200 instead of the current one to 400 is absolutely critical,” says Rep. Provenzano.

Democrats are calling for healthy school meals for all students, regardless of the ability to pay.

"Four different states have now enacted this, where meals are paid for regardless. And you've seen, oh gosh, about seven other states introduce legislation this year to make sure that meals are paid for when kids are fed. The next thing that happens is they show up. If you're hungry, you don't care about conjugating verbs,” says Rep. Provenzano.

They also suggest bonuses be restored for national board-certified teachers.

“Any teacher you ever met that you can hire that's national board certified, you follow them out into the parking lot and you hire them on the spot because they come with the training and the background and the, and they're proven know-how to get things done in the classroom,” says Rep. Provenzano.

Republicans did give school districts some choice as to what to do with the extra funding outside of the teacher pay raises.

“We're just leaving that up to the superintendents to decide exactly and the principals how they're gonna disperse the, those extra revenues. But you know, it was really important to the senate, the house that every single certified teacher got a pay raise,” says Gov. Stitt.

The republican plan also created a school safety grant pilot program for the next three years. School districts can apply for the grants to pay for upgraded security measures or hire security resource officers.

“Then there's the 50 million that is a three year pilot program that will go to school safety,” says Gov. Stitt.