Education plans for this legislative session are still up in the air. The Senate made some pretty big changes to the House’s tax credit and public-school funding bills this week- something House leadership has been saying could kill a majority of education legislation.

There are some key differences in the two chamber’s plans- mostly impacting funding for rural or smaller schools versus urban and suburban.

The House’s Original Education Plan

The House’s plan was set to cost around $800 million dollars, between a tax credit for private and homeschooling, and public-school funding.

"We're less concerned about being chancy on the investment in education, if we can come up with a policy where every kid, every parent, every school district and every teacher wins,” said House Speaker Charles McCall.

The plan was broken down into three parts, with a total of $500 million in increased funding for public schools.

1. $150 Million in financial support used to increase teacher salaries, not administration, by $2,500, regardless of what they are currently being paid or the minimum salary schedule.
2. $50 million to be distributed in a proportional manner the same as the Redbud School Grants, a grant funding for low-income districts.
3. $300 million distributed to public school districts on a per-student basis.

"With the House plan, if it were to have passed, we would increase funding 52% over the last 6 years,” said Speaker McCall.

The House’s original plan includes $300 million to be distributed to public school districts on a per-pupil basis, but with a cap at $2 million per school.

That would include up to $5,000 credits for private school students (per-student, per-year) and up to $2,500 credits for homeschool students (per-student, per-year).

These will also only be expensed for qualified purchases with receipts. Some of the qualified expenses include tuition and fees, tutoring services, textbooks, curriculum or other instructional materials, and nationally standardized assessments.

But this week- the Senate made some key changes.

The Senate’s Changes

"If we do an up-down vote on either 1935 or 2775 they will fail and they will fail miserably and that will be the final action,” said Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat.

The Senate’s school choice initiative looked very different from the house. They put an income cap at $250,000 per household in order to qualify for the tax credit.

They increased the private school amount to $7,500 per-student and lowered the homeschooling credit to $1,000 per-family.

The Senate suggested a $248 million investment in teacher pay raises, combining a bill they had already been working to pass this session with what the House sent over. 

1. $3,000 for zero to four years of service
2. $4,000 for five to nine years of service
3. $5,000 for 10 to 14 years of service 
4. $6,000 for 15 (+) years of service

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat says the way the House originally wrote it, it was not equal to districts across the state. They said it would give more money to rural schools.

"Atoka public schools ironically got the most increase per kid,” said Treat.

Speaker McCall represents Atoka.

The Senate’s $630 million plan would give an additional $216 million will go into the state aid formula, Treat says this equates to an additional $414 dollars per kid regardless if they’re attending an urban or rural school.

"All kids in the state of Oklahoma are funded equitably and equally regardless of their zip code."

The House Responds

The House criticized that the Senate amendments would substantially lower funding for almost every district and 32 schools would be left out completely.

But Senate leadership argues those districts already make enough money from local taxes- which is why they weren’t included in the formula spending in the first place.

Speaker Charles McCall asked the Senate to reconsider the amendments- saying if his two bills aren’t heard on the floor without amendments, Senate education bills could be considered dead on arrival.

McCall’s two bills, HB1935 and HB2775 are expected to be heard on the Senate floor tomorrow morning.