Oklahoma

Funding priorities for oklahoma p-12 and higher education

Oklahoma educators experienced a monumental win during the 2018 legislative session, where a revenue-raising bill HB 1010xx passed with a three-fourths majority vote. This included a historical average teacher pay raise of $6,100. In addition to a teacher pay raise, educators witnessed a $1,250 support pay raise and an increase of $50 million to operational dollars for the fiscal year FY2019 school year. This increased state aid funding dollars by 19%, after being adjusted for inflation.¹ However, even with this considerable increase, Oklahoma remains 15% below its 2008 pre-recession level, meaning there is still an urgency to increase funding to education.²

Kevin Stitt, Oklahoma's newly elected Governor, is supporting other policymakers in an attempt to continue to improve education funding this legislative session. Though SB 441 included another teacher pay raise of $1200, the additional funding is attached to an increased amount of instructional days that will be required of school districts.³ This bill is in response to the fact that nearly 20% of school districts currently operate under a four-day workweek. In addition to another teacher pay raise, the legislature voted to increase the state aid formula funding by $74.3 million to help decrease class size and restore programs that have been cut over the years. The legislature also increased Higher Education funding by $28.6 million.

Changes to funding formula for oklahoma p-12 and higher education

The state funding formula experienced a substantial increase in revenue after the legislature successfully passed tax increases. In FY2019, the state aid allocation began at $3,398.00-the largest dollar amount educators have seen in over a decade.⁴ This is $365.80 more per weighted dollar amount districts received compared to the FY2018 allocation. In FY2020, the allocation continued to increase to $3,582.74.

Although Higher Education maintained a relatively flat budget for FY2019, the decrease in state funding over the last 30 years equates to state appropriated dollars decreasing by 47%, resulting in cost shifts to students through increased tuition and fees. The Regents for Higher Education has asked the state for $50.5 million for operational funding and $38.7 million for salaries.⁵

Pressing issues affecting oklahoma p-12 and higher education funding

Educators continue to put pressure on the legislature to increase P-12 state aid funding to fully restore school staffing and programs that have been cut over the last decade due to decreased funding. The pay raises were a step in the right direction; however, after years of cuts to education more needs to be done.

The state department of education asked for $273 million, an additional $259.40 per student, to reinstate class size mandates. Since 2010, SB 933 has allowed a moratorium on penalties that school districts can incur if they do not meet class size limits, providing penalty exemptions until state aid funding reaches a $3,291.60 threshold. The FY 2019 state aid factor, preceding the teacher pay raise, has exceeded this dollar amount. Therefore, the legislature will either have to reissue the moratorium or appropriate sufficient funding to assist schools in reducing class size.⁶

The State Department of Education is hoping the increase in teacher salaries will decrease the state average of 10% of educators who leave the profession every year. In addition to retaining quality teachers, the pay raise will reduce the need for emergency certified positions. The state approved 3,023 emergency certifications in FY2019.⁷

Forces diverting funds from traditional oklahoma public school districts: trends in state funding for public institutions

This legislative session, SB 407-a scholarship tax credit expansion, modified a program that allows Oklahomans to receive tax credits for donations for public school scholarships and some grant funding for public schools. The potential loss from this bill in FY2020 to public schools could be as much as $15,000,000 and only continue to increase with each subsequent year.⁸ The issue with increasing tax credits is that it robs the state of potential revenue.^9...