What a strange week at the Capitol it's been - between the announcement of a budget deal and candidate filings for the upcoming election cycle, not a lot of other legislative business actually happened as far as advancing bills through committees. Because the budget agreement has been met, it is likely the legislature will fast track out of session by the end of April. This means two things:

1) any bills with a fiscal impact that were not included in the budget deal are likely going to peter out.

2) there will only be 2 weeks left to cram all remaining bills through committees and 1 week for floor votes. This will severely impact the chances for remaining bills to see a floor vote - less than we would normally see.

This week’s Friday Focus highlights details that are available regarding the budget agreement and how it may impact public education, the few education bills that were heard this week, what is on tap for next week, and bills we need your help on with advocacy voice, and election candidate filing news!

Visit our Bill Tracker page here to get a comprehensive list of all the Education Bills which are still alive and kicking!

Budget News

Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton and House Speaker Kyle Hilbert announced an agreement this week on a nearly $12.8 billion state budget for the next fiscal year.

Links to the budget agreement:

What does this mean for public education initiatives? While all of the details are yet to be released, NonDoc has the most detailed reporting so far. Here is what we do know:

Teacher pay raise - Average $2,000 raise for teachers statewide added to the minimum salary schedule applied to all steps, but will mostly impact entry level pay since many schools exceed the minimum schedule already. This is not an across the board pay increase for all teachers.

Teacher benefits: about $27 million to cover rising teacher health insurance costs

Teacher retirement (important shift): the earlier idea to pull money from the Teacher Retirement System was dropped and retirement funding will be left untouched for now.

Retired teachers: a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for retirees is the first meaningful increase after years of inflation pressure. Retirees who have been retired 10–19 years will see a 3% increase and retirees who have been retired 20+ years will see a 6% increase.

Classroom / student support investments: the budget includes nearly $80 million for reading + math initiatives including literacy programs, reading tutors, and math tutors. However, the funding for these initiatives are likely still inadequate to truly make the impact sought. It can be argued that this funding doesn’t meet current needs for the targeted math/literacy programs and schools would need more upfront funding to implement mandates effectively.

Education funding overall: public education will receive targeted investments, but the OSDE is mostly flat-funded, particularly when considering inflation rates.

MOST ALARMING ADDITION - Additional public dollars to private schools with no legislative bill votes: behind closed doors, leaders chose to funnel an additional $25 million to increase the cap of the Parental Choice Tax Credit from $250 million to $275 million. The most alarming part is where the money will come from: the Legacy Capital Financing fund. This fund was created in 2023 as a state-run financing pool for big construction and infrastructure projects—things like:

University buildings
Hospitals
Law enforcement facilities
State office repairs and upgrades

It’s managed by the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority. Instead of paying interest to Wall Street for large capital projects, universities or state agencies can get upfront money for big building projects and then those agencies are required by law to pay the money back over time instead of issuing bonds (typically 20 years).

This raises serious questions surrounding the move to fund private school tuitions (not a capital building investment) for refundable tax credits to private citizens who are not required to pay back a penny. We will be researching this further.

Election News

This week saw candidates seeking state office filing to officially appear on the ballots! Stay tuned for more on election news in the coming weeks - until then, you can view the live list of candidates who have tossed their hats in the ring by visiting the Oklahoma State Election Board.

Additionally, lawmakers aim to circumvent Oklahoma voters by putting state questions on low turnout election dates to manipulate election outcomes in hopes that a small voting bloc will revisit issues voters have already decided. Read more here and plan to roll out to vote on August 25th for State Questions. More on these in the weeks to come.

Bills We Are Championing Next Week

HB3638 – Summer EBT Implementation - creates a pathway for Oklahoma to participate in the federal Summer EBT program beginning in 2027, helping ensure 55,000 kids have access to food when school meals are unavailable. Also infuses $75M of federal dollars into local grocery stores and community economies (B.O.O.K. Safe, Healthy & Supportive Schools).

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ALL SENATORS IN THE HHS COMMITTEE ON HB3638

SB1481& SB2045 - Increased Recess Time- these bills require public elementary schools in Oklahoma to provide students with up to 40 minutes more of outside recess time daily. Up next - Senate Floor! (B.O.O.K. Improving Student Performance)

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ALL HOUSE REPS IN COMMITTTEES ON BOTH BILLS

Next Week's Committee Schedule

You can view livestreams or recording of these meetings at this li nk:

House Education A&B - Mon 4/6 10:30am Rm 450 (SB1481 on agenda)
Senate Education - Tues 4/7 10:00am Rm 535(agenda pending)
Senate Health & Human Services - Wed 4/8 10:00am Rm 535 (agenda pending)
House Common Education - Wed 4/8 3:00pm Rm 450 (agenda pending)

Bills We Are Supporting

HB3674 - Student Sexual Assault Reporting - mandates that all reports of sexual assault occurring within schools must be reported to a law enforcement agency, and school districts must ensure their school resource officers (SROs) have completed specific training related to sexual assault and sexual violence. (B.O.O.K. Safe, Healthy & Supportive Schools).

HB3467 - Expanded Maternity Leave - expands paid maternity leave for certain full-time education employees in Oklahoma to include the adoption of a child, provided the child is under four years old, and clarifies that this leave must be taken immediately following the adoption. (B.O.O.K. Strengthening the Teaching Profession)

HB4427&SB1614- strengthen requirements for adjunct teachers. (B.O.O.K. Strengthening the Teaching Profession)

SB1546 - Inspired to Teach Program Expansion - increases the scholarship amounts available to aspiring teachers in Oklahoma. (B.O.O.K. Strengthening the Teaching Profession)

HB3671 & SB1317 - expand the definition of a "career teacher" for evaluation purposes. (B.O.O.K. Strengthening the Teaching Profession)

SB1204 - requires school districts to provide three days of paid bereavement leave to teachers and support personnel employees following the death of their spouse or child, which also includes leave for a miscarriage. (B.O.O.K. Strengthening the Teaching Profession)

Bills We Are Opposing

HB 3240 - Mandating Prayer in Schools - requires school districts to adopt a policy that provides students and employees with an opportunity to participate in a period of prayer and reading of religious texts on each school day. Students and teachers already have the freedom to do this during the school day.

HB3151 - School Calendar Expansion - increases the minimum number of instructional days required for schools without adequately addressing the additional funding needed to do so.

HJR1055 - State Superintendent Changes - changes how the State Superintendent of Public Instruction is selected and removed - instead of elected, they would be appointed by the Governor. This HJR would create a state question to put to the vote of the people.

SB1250 & HB2978 - Book Bans - these books continue to remove local control surrounding library media selection.

Bills We Are Watching

Literacy Reform and Teacher Pay/Benefits Bills - there are still several bills alive in these categories. We will be monitoring both categories for positive or negative changes. (B.O.O.K. Improving Student Performance and Supporting the Teaching Profession)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR FULL 2026 OKLAED BILL TRACKER

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR B.O.O.K POLICY INITIATIVE - BETTER OUTCOMES FOR OKLAHOMA'S KIDS

*Friday Focus is a weekly legislative update from Advance Oklahoma’s Kids, a project of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, tracking policies impacting students and families across Oklahoma.*

Committee Meetings & Livestreams

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

Legislative Deadlines:
- April 9 - Senate bills out of House chamber policy & sub committees
- April 23 - Senate bills out of House oversight and appropriations committees, House bills out of Senate committees
- May 7 - all bills out of opposite chamber and to Governor
- May 31 - Sine Die (end of session)

Advance Oklahoma’s Kids is a coalition led by organizations, parents, and students who are working to make Oklahoma's public schools more equitable and ensure they’re fully funded.

Our B.O.O.K. (Better Outcomes for Oklahoma's Kids) Policy Initiative calls on Oklahomans to set aside partisanship to deliver a bold, realistic agenda for Oklahoma's public schools. We will inspire Oklahomans to work together toward advancing 16 policy recommendations across four themes: Strengthening the Teaching Profession, Ensuring Adequate Resources, Improving Student Performance, and Creating Healthy, Safe and Supportive School Environments. With over 700,000 students depending on public education, B.O.O.K. lays out a roadmap to strengthening our schools and securing better outcomes for every Oklahoma child.