Budget & Tax

A look at Oklahoma CareerTech spending

August 30, 2024

Curtis Shelton

As our series on Oklahoma’s 10 largest state agencies continues, we come to another education agency that’s often overlooked in our discourse on education—despite having an enrollment of nearly half a million students. It is the Department of Career and Technology Education. As a reminder, the 10 largest agencies are:

  1. Department of Education
  2. Oklahoma Health Care Authority
  3. Regents for Higher Education
  4. Department of Transportation
  5. Department of Human Services
  6. Department of Corrections
  7. Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
  8. Department of Career and Technology Education
  9. Department of Public Safety
  10. Office of Management and Enterprise Services

The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education has seen a slight drop in appropriations (adjusted for inflation) since fiscal year 2003. Since 2003, the agency’s budget has fallen by $14 million, or 6.5 percent. Its appropriated budget is $196 million for fiscal year 2025. CareerTech is heavily supported by local tax dollars, so state funds make up less than half of the department's budget. 

As of fiscal year 2023, CareerTech had a total enrollment of 489,635.

Sources: Oklahoma Annual Comprehensive Financial Reports; Oklahoma House of Representatives Fiscal Summary; SB1125 Fiscal Summary; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Inflation Calculator