Leaders of the Oklahoma House and Senate along with Governor Kevin Stitt announced Monday afternoon that the education funding impasse was over. Public schools will receive an additional $500 million with much of it to be used for teacher pay raises. There will be $125 million added to the Redbud Fund which gives grants to schools to bolster facilities. Another $155 million will be used for private school or home school tax credits with that topline going up to $255 million by 2026.
The Oklahoman’s Nuria Martinez-Keel writes House lawmakers eventually relented on their Oklahoma Student Fund. That fund would have put $300 million toward school district needs with a $2 million cap on how much each district would receive. That got no traction in the Senate.
Now, lawmakers have until the end of next week to come up with the rest of the budget and possibly override vetoes on legislation.
Read The Oklahoman’s story here.
Thank goodness! Oklahoma will now be in the vanguard of states with meaningful school choice legislation, along with meaningful funding for public schools. That’s real statesmanship.