This bill proposes a constitutional amendment to establish the "Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund" for Oklahoma's tobacco settlement funds. It requires that at least 75% of new tobacco settlement payments (after 2001) be deposited into this trust fund, with specific percentages increasing over time. The trust fund's earnings must be used for cancer research, tobacco prevention programs, children's health initiatives, senior care programs, and education-related expenses, with unused funds remaining in the trust. The amendment creates two governing boards to manage investments and allocate funds, and it would require voter approval before taking effect.
HB 3704 directs Oklahoma to participate in a federal income tax credit program allowing individuals to claim a credit for donations to scholarship granting organizations (SGOs). The bill requires the Governor to certify Oklahoma's participation to the U.S. Treasury and designates the Oklahoma Tax Commission to register SGOs, maintain their lists, and handle federal reporting. This enables Oklahoma taxpayers to claim the federal credit for qualifying donations, while coordinating with Oklahoma's existing state tax credit for SGO contributions. The law takes effect July 1, 2026, and remains in place until changed by law or federal policy.
SB 1189 requires Oklahoma's School Security Revolving Fund to allocate $50 million annually for three fiscal years (starting July 2026) to all public school districts equally. It removes previous spending limits on the fund and mandates that these funds supplement, not replace, existing school security funding. The bill directs funds toward security measures like resource officers, cameras, locks, and panic systems. It takes effect July 1, 2026, with an emergency declaration to expedite implementation. This directly affects all Oklahoma public school districts through guaranteed annual security funding.
SB 1262 provides a resident tuition waiver for Oklahoma students under 18 who were victims of human trafficking for commercial sex or labor, as defined in Oklahoma law. The waiver covers no resident tuition at Oklahoma public colleges and universities but is limited to five years from the date of eligibility. It requires rules to be established for implementation and takes effect immediately upon passage. The bill directly affects Oklahoma residents who were minors during specific trafficking offenses.
SB 366 changes Oklahoma's charter school application process by removing the requirement for applicants to first submit proposals to the local school district. Instead, starting July 1, 2025, new charter school applications must be submitted directly to a proposed sponsor (such as a school district board, university, or approved organization). This applies to all new applications filed after July 1, 2024, streamlining the process for charter school developers. Virtual charter schools remain subject to separate submission rules with the Statewide Charter School Board. The bill updates statutory language to reflect this procedural shift.
HB 1287 authorizes the University of Oklahoma's Board of Regents to create a high-dosage math tutoring pilot program for ninth-grade students who scored lowest on Oklahoma's eighth-grade math assessment. The program targets public high schools in districts with 30,000+ enrolled students and public charter schools. It requires the University of Oklahoma's College of Education to administer the tutoring, focusing on intensive, frequent support for struggling math students. The bill takes effect July 1, 2025, with an emergency clause allowing immediate implementation upon approval.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 224 creates the Oklahoma Education and Workforce Efficiency Data System (EDS), a secure platform for state agencies to share de-identified student and workforce data across education and employment systems. It directly affects state agencies like the Oklahoma Department of Education, Workforce Commission, and higher education bodies by enabling data integration for improving educational outcomes and taxpayer return on investment. Key provisions include requiring strict privacy compliance (under FERPA and similar laws), prohibiting collection of sensitive data (religion, medical information), and establishing a Governance Council to oversee data access and vendor selection. The system aims to support evidence-based decisions while ensuring data privacy through formal agreements and anonymization for approved users like researchers.
HB 2766 is the Oklahoma state budget bill for fiscal year 2026, allocating over $1.65 billion from the General Revenue Fund to support public schools. It directs specific funding for teacher salaries, textbooks, health benefits for staff, school administration, and the School Consolidation Assistance Fund, drawing from multiple sources including the Education Lottery Trust Fund and Mineral Leasing Fund. The bill was enacted without the Governor's signature on May 29, 2025, and directly affects all Oklahoma public schools and their students through these state-funded resources.
SB 212 directs Oklahoma's Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability to establish a two-year pilot program called TeachForwardOK for teacher education programs at accredited public colleges and universities. The bill requires the Commission to issue grants to approved programs to hire technical evaluators who must assess four specific areas: teacher candidate recruitment/completion, program effectiveness, alignment with state workforce needs, and strategies for recruiting nontraditional teachers. Programs must submit electronic responses to evaluation reports within 60 days, and the Commission will award $500,000 to one program to address findings after the pilot. The Commission must submit a final report to state leaders by December 2027 detailing results and recommendations.
SB 1129 appropriates $100,000 from Oklahoma's General Revenue Fund to the State Board of Education for purposes related to educational quality and accountability. The bill requires these funds to be used for specific duties assigned to the State Board under existing law, though it does not specify exact programs or beneficiaries. It declares an emergency to take immediate effect upon enactment, bypassing the usual 90-day waiting period. The legislation focuses solely on funding allocation without detailing how grants would be distributed or which educational programs would be directly impacted.
