The Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit (PCTC) program is helping a growing number of Oklahoma families obtain a private-school education for their children at lower taxpayer cost than sending those same children to public school.

From the end of the 2025-2026 school year to the start of the ongoing 2026-2027 school year, the number of children benefiting from the program has increased from 39,587 to 42,012, according to Oklahoma Tax Commission records.

Most of those children are from lower-income and middle-class families. State data show participation increased this year among children who are on welfare programs such as food stamps, those considered “financially disadvantaged,” homeless children, and all income brackets—save one.

Among children from families with incomes of $75,000 or less, there was a very slight decline. At the end of the 2025-2026 school year, there were 7,762 children using the PCTC program from families with incomes of $75,000 or less. In the ongoing 2026-2027 school year, there are 7,753 children in that income bracket, a decline of nine students.

Since that group receives the largest tax credit, which can cover most or all the cost of private-school tuition, many were surprised that PCTC participation stalled among that group.

But school officials say that trend is tied to the creation of a June 15 deadline for applying to the PCTC program. This was the first year an application deadline was imposed.

Many working-class parents, particularly those looking to shift children from public school to private school for the first time, make those decisions much closer to the start of the school year, officials say. As a result, many could not apply for the Parental Choice Tax Credit program by the time they began exploring their options.

“That deadline was before kids were even enrolling in school in public school,” said Barbara Giager, principal of Putnam City Christian School, a small private school that serves students from pre-K to fifth grade. “So anybody moving into the district or anybody moving into the Oklahoma City area could not apply for the parental tax credit because the deadline had already ended. And that’s not fair.”

Giager said the families of 15 to 20 children inquired about enrolling at Putnam City Christian School after the PCTC deadline. Those families ultimately did not enroll their children because they could not afford tuition without the credit.

Giager said her students “are all low-income,” and that the families who inquired about enrolling after the PCTC deadline were looking to shift their children from public school to private school for the first time.

“It’s really hurting parents,” Giager said, referring to the June 15 deadline, “and when it hurts the parents it hurts the kids.”

In a June interview, Tiffany Rinas, school superintendent for Owasso Preparatory Academy, noted similar problems for a notable number of families in her area who were negatively impacted by the new June 15 PCTC application deadline. During the 2025-2026 school year, Rinas noted roughly 40 families at Owasso Preparatory Academy applied for parental choice tax credits between June 15, 2025, and Jan. 1, 2026.

“The vast majority of those families came to us as first-time-to-Christian-school families,” Rinas said, “and the vast majority of them transferred from public schools.”

Many children inadvertently denied access to the PCTC program because of the new deadline are from military families.

In an Oct. 1 email to state Sen. Julie Daniels, Timmy Higgins, Tinker Air Force Base School Liaison Program Manager, informed the senator that “after looking at our data for when most people arrive at Tinker throughout the year, the majority of our personnel arrive after June 15th, making them ineligible under the current Parental Child Tax Credit deadline.”

In the military, the Permanent Change of Station (PCS) process reassigns members of the armed forces to bases around the nation each year. A large share of those moves occur simultaneously to ensure readiness is maintained across the system even as people are shuffled to multiple installations.

Most military-family moves occur in the summer, but those families typically begin arriving in Oklahoma in the latter half of June.

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.

Even though the maximum $7,500 credit is far less than the $15,111 in per-pupil revenue provided to Oklahoma public schools, the program has not only helped more than 42,000 students access private schools but has also freed up millions for use in the public-school system.

Every time a student uses the PCTC program to leave public school and enroll in a private school, it effectively frees up $15,111 in the public school. The offsetting cost of the tax credit, which is funded separately from public schools’ funding, is no more than $7,500.

In the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 school years combined, more than 7,300 students have used the program to switch from public schools to private schools in Oklahoma.

Based on those students’ family incomes and the average tax-credit award in their brackets, Oklahoma Tax Commission data indicate those students received around $48.9 million in credits this year while effectively freeing up as much as $110.4 million in public schools.

Erin Rice, a single mom in Norman who works as a hair stylist, is among those who’ve used the PCTC program to enroll a child in private school for the first time. Rice shifted her son from public school to private school three years ago.

Although she wanted to put her son in a private school, the financial challenge initially appeared daunting.

“I’m divorced, and I thought, ‘This is just totally out of reach,’” Rice recalled.

But then the Oklahoma Parental Tax Credit program was created, and Rice seized the opportunity.

Today, her youngest son in private school is in the eighth grade while an older son is in 11th grade in public school. Rice said her younger son’s academics are often at the same level, or even more advanced, than what her older son is provided at his high school.

“I can’t even say enough good things,” Rice said. “I just love the school, its smaller classes. That money has literally changed our lives. It’s so awesome.”

Of 209 private schools that participate in the PCTC program and primarily serve students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs was able to obtain tuition rates for 187 schools this year.

At least 123 private schools charge tuition of $10,000 or less. At 71 private schools in Oklahoma, the maximum $7,500 Oklahoma parental choice tax credit will cover all tuition costs.

While the tax credit does not cover the entire cost of tuition at her son’s school, Rice said the PCTC program made private school viable for her family because she can cover the remainder.

“I can absolutely do that,” Rice said. “Work late one night, don’t drink Starbucks, and he’s in a better school.”

Daniels said lawmakers will consider altering the PCTC application deadline when they reconvene for the 2027 legislative session to make certain no interested family is denied the opportunity, particularly those from working-class backgrounds.

“The parental choice tax credit program is a great success,” said Daniels, R-Bartlesville. “Adjusting the window was already under discussion. We definitely need to ensure our military families can access the credits in a timely manner.”