The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a $4 billion dollar budget request for Fiscal Year 2027 on Thursday. The proposed budget has a few key differences from last year's — consistent with the new state superintendent's priorities.
The state education board is requesting more money than the agency got from the legislature for Fiscal Year 2026, but still less than it asked for this time last year.
State Superintendent Lindel Fields says at $4 billion dollars the budget request is mostly flat.
"The exception you'll see is an increase of approximately $23 million," Fields said to open the discussion. "That will help us offset the increased cost of insurance and the flex benefit allowance that flows through the state Department of Education to all of our partners. So that's very high level, just over $4 billion budget."
Another change is a $50,000 cut for materials towards a new civil rights curriculum, which started when House Bill 1397 took effect in 2023.
Kristin Stephens is the Interim Deputy Superintendent of Operations at the state education department while also working as the chief financial officer for Tulsa Public Schools. She led the main budget presentation, during which she provided more details and answered board members' questions.
Member Chris Van Dehende opened with the first inquiry, regarding $11 million for literacy funding and $42.2 million for teacher retention and recruitment.
"In general, they are intended for programs that promote such things as tutoring, high dosage tutoring, which we know is very effective at the local level," Stephens said about the literacy money.
The teacher retention and recruitment part, she said, relates in part to the Oklahoma Teacher Empowerment Program and other state incentives.
The board approved the budget proposal unanimously after only a few more questions about what adjustments, if any, are being made to compensation for increases in living costs. But Van Dehende did take a moment to point out another departure this year from last year's budget discussion.
"We received this information significantly earlier than we had in the past, which allowed us an opportunity to review it and know what was in these documents beforehand," Van Dehende said. "So as people are watching and wondering why we're not looking at it, it's because we had it to look at prior."
All of the referenced documents are available online at the education department's website.
Democratic state lawmakers at the board meeting said they're concerned about the budget. Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, was among them.
"You know, with inflation like this, a flat budget is a cut," Kirt said." We're still $1.2 billion behind the regional average for per student investment. So I'm concerned that they're going flat now."
But Kirt had positive feedback, too.
"I appreciate they're taking out some of the political budget items that were in there from the previous administration, and certainly appreciate the candor and the improvement in the board's functioning," she said. "But we've got to aim higher for kids."
The budget proposal is not final. The legislature will have to allocate the money during next year's legislative session, which starts in early February.
