school choice

Only two weeks remain in the 2023 legislative regular session, and lawmakers are still seeking agreement on education funding and state budget for the next fiscal year.

Oklahoma House Republicans bypassed standard legislative procedure to advance Gov. Kevin Stitt’s education plan. The last-minute change ties teacher raises to tax credits for private and homeschool families.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives has sent to the Senate two bills that would provide education tax credits for parents with students in private and home schools.

Speaker of the House Charles McCall has announced the House Republican plan for education, which includes increased funding for public schools and tax credits for parents with children in private schools and home-based education.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has taken his re-election as a mandate from conservative voters: grow school choice, cut taxes and ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

In a dramatic turn Wednesday, a coalition of mostly rural Republicans and urban Democrats voted down one of the most headline-grabbing bills of the year in Senate Bill 1647.

A bill that would direct tax dollars into an account to help parents pay for private school tuition met stiff opposition, and defeat, in the Oklahoma Senate.

StateImpact talks with families and educators in Sulphur to find out

Last week, Oklahoma state senators braced for a debate on a school voucher bill that never came. Despite that, lawmakers did pass a litany of education bills through their chambers of origin.

A survey commissioned by Oklahoma educators and conducted by a Virginia pollster found that Oklahoma voters are opposed to school voucher measures like one currently being debated in the legislature.