Budget & Tax, Education

Some Oklahoma lawmakers prioritize gambling over education

May 18, 2026

Jonathan Small

When finance site WalletHub ranked Oklahoma’s public schools 50th in the nation in 2025, the ranking was widely noted. While less noted, WalletHub also ranked Oklahoma the tenth-most gambling-addicted state.

Basically, Oklahoma ranked poorly in an area where we want to rank high, and ranked near the top on a metric where we want to be at the bottom.

Yet this year, some state lawmakers voted to incentivize and indirectly subsidize compulsive gambling while opposing legislation that would allow more children to access a quality K-12 education.

The disconnect between the real needs of Oklahoma families and the voting records of those lawmakers is a yawning chasm.

Important steps have been made this year to improve Oklahoma’s public schools, such as mandating retention when third-grade students cannot read at grade level and increasing the length of our school year to come closer (but not yet match) national norms. Those efforts should pay off in better outcomes in future years.

But one area where Oklahoma already shines in education rankings is our commitment to provide all families of all income levels robust school choice opportunities that allow children to access a quality education in a private school.

The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program provides refundable tax credits of $5,000 to $7,500 per child to cover the cost of private school tuition. The largest tax credits go to those with the lowest incomes, and families with incomes under $150,000 per year are prioritized.

The program has proven very popular. This school year, Oklahoma families used $247.8 million in credits, and demand is expected to exceed the $250 million cap during the 2026-2027 school year.

That’s why House Bill 3705 increased the amount of school-choice tax credits to $275 million next year to ensure no families are denied opportunity.

At the same time, lawmakers have also advanced House Bill 4432 to exempt gambling losses from the current $17,000 cap on itemized deductions, allowing those who accrue massive gambling losses to use those losses to reduce tax liability for any winnings they accrue.

HB 3705 provided an additional $25 million in refundable school-choice tax credits to Oklahoma families for educational opportunity. HB 4432 provided gamblers with $25.6 million in annual tax breaks.

Yet in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, 17 lawmakers who voted against educational opportunity separately voted to subsidize gambling. Seven members of the Oklahoma Senate did the same thing, supporting gambling but opposing educational opportunity.

Whatever the merits of the gambling deduction, one thing is clear. Our state needs better educational outcomes far more than it needs people willing to gamble and lose more than $17,000 per year. Anyone who thinks education is less important than high-roller gamblers is badly missing the mark, threatening our state’s future prosperity.