When members of the Senate Rules Committee took up legislation to increase, by $25 million, the amount of tax credits provided to Oklahoma families for a school-choice program, opponents claimed the proposal would be a major financial drain on the rest of the state government.

But those opponents did not raise the same concerns about another bill that provided more than $25 million in tax breaks to individuals with gambling losses.

In fact, two school-choice opponents voted for the gambling break even as they opposed credits that help families access private schools.

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 income of less than $150,000 per year are prioritized.

This school year, Oklahoma families used $247.8 million in credits from the Parental Choice Tax Credit program to send their children to a private school, according to the most recent report from the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Based on trends, demand is expected to exceed the $250 million supply during the 2026-2027 school year unless the cap is raised on the program.

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

“As of the April report, we have 39,587 children whose parents have accessed the Parental Choice Tax Credit, and we anticipate that that will grow some over the next year,” said state Sen. Julie Daniels, a Bartlesville Republican who presented HB 3705 in committee. “We’ve raised that cap $25 million a year for three years since we first adopted the program, so now we’re simply going back and raising that another $25 million to accommodate what will be an increase in interest from families.”

State Sen. Mary Boren, D-Norman, objected, saying the school-choice program will have involved a cumulative $975 million in tax credits from its launch in spring 2024 to the end of the 2026-2027 school year if HB 3705 passes.

She argued the state should spend that money on something other than education.

“During those years, the state government wasn’t able to use those funds for anything else, like Medicaid expansion or daycare or any other state priority,” Boren said.

State Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, voiced a similar argument.

“This tax credit is off-the-top spending that is set aside, and if we encounter any shortfalls or budgetary complications, these dollars are locked away,” Hicks said.

Yet, despite arguing the state was prioritizing education opportunity over other needs during their comments on HB 3705, two of the lawmakers who opposed raising the cap on the Parental Tax Credit Program by $25 million separately voted during the same meeting to provide a tax break to gamblers that will reduce state revenue by $25.6 million.

Currently, the deductibility of gambling losses is subject to a $17,000 cap, meaning gamblers whose losses exceed that level cannot deduct losses above that level even as they are taxed on gambling winnings. House Bill 4432 exempts gambling losses from that cap.

Both Hicks and Boren supported HB 4432, even though it would reduce state revenue for public schools by $25.6 million next year and $28.6 million by 2029.

In contrast, supporters of the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program noted that school choice has been expanded in Oklahoma in tandem with increased funding for the state’s public schools.

Since the creation of the parental choice tax credit program, state Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, noted that lawmakers have surpassed “a billion dollars being put into public ed” even as they also increased school-choice opportunities for state families.

State Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, said that at a recent meeting he attended, an official with the Oklahoma State School Boards Association “presented a chart that showed over the last four fiscal years the investment in public education is higher than it’s ever been in the history of the state.”

He said support for school choice has facilitated support for increased public-school funding.

“There are two winners here,” Rader said. “We are investing more in our public schools than we ever had—that’s what the data says. And it’s only because in this building those that said we need to invest more in private schools said, ‘I’ll vote for the public-school dollars if you raise there,’ and vice versa, the public school said, ‘Alright, I’ll vote for the private-school dollars if you raise the public school.’ And so this had been a win-win.”

“We can have a both/and mindset,” said state Sen. Kristen Thompson, R-Edmond. “We want to support our public schools, and we have. I have voted on almost a billion dollars in new investment in public schools since I’ve been in this building. I’m proud to support public schools, charter schools, and private schools, because they all serve our children.”

She said lawmakers should focus on maximizing opportunities for children, not on prioritizing one system over another.

“I ran on school choice and ensuring that every child who is a unique individual created by God can attain everything that they were born to be. I have seen the direct impact on friends and their children,” Thompson said. “I have seen how public schools and private schools both are serving kids in the way that they need to.”

The cumulative amount of revenue directed to Oklahoma public schools from all sources dwarfs the cumulative amount of money directed to the Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit program during its existence.

Oklahoma public schools will have received around $33.3 billion in total revenue, excluding savings, from the launch of the Parental Choice Tax Credit program in the spring of 2024 to the end of the 2026-2027 school year, based on current trends.

For every $1 spent on the parental choice tax credit program during those years, public schools will have received more than $34.

Even so, Hicks also argued that few families have truly benefited from the school-choice program, saying that “only 8 percent” of beneficiaries “had previously been enrolled in a public school, and that 92 percent of the folks who are engaging in this entitlement had always chosen a private education for their family.”

However, data collected by the Oklahoma Tax Commission contradict Hick’s suggestion that 92 percent of parental-choice tax-credit beneficiaries can afford private school without the tax credit.

State Sen. Ally Seifreid, R-Claremore, noted that the Oklahoma Tax Commission has only collected data on the number of kids switching from public school to private school in the 2025-2026 school year, meaning children who switched in spring 2024 and the 2024-2025 school year are not included in the statistic cited by Hicks.

And the data collected by the Oklahoma Tax Commission indicate that a substantial share of students who are now attending private school could not do so without the credit.

“Among the 90 percent of kids who used the tax-credit program this year and were in private school last year, 2,690 students were on welfare programs such as food stamps, 29 were homeless, and another 6,807 students (were) from families of income with $75,000 or less,” Seifried said.

Bullard also noted that many families are benefiting from the school-choice program.

“We have parents now that are able to send their kids to other schools, to give their kids a leg up, that have never had that opportunity before we put in this tax credit,” Bullard said.

HB 3705 passed the Senate Rules Committee on a 13-3 vote. The bill now proceeds to the full Oklahoma Senate for a final vote.