Education

Oklahoma gets high marks in ‘freedom’ report

October 27, 2026

Ray Carter

Oklahoma is ranked the nation’s 12th-best state in a new “freedom” report from the libertarian Cato Institute and among the top five states for educational opportunity in its K-12 system.

The report also identified Gov. Kevin Stitt as the nation’s ninth-best governor.

The Cato Institute’s “Freedom in the 50 States” report ranks U.S. states on their support for and protection of both economic freedom and personal freedom across a wide range of issues.

Oklahoma ranked 12th-best in the report’s overall ranking, receiving a “B” grade. Only two states received higher grades.

Oklahoma ranked fifth-best among the 50 states for “educational freedom,” a measure of “the degree to which a state expands or restricts the freedom of parents and students to choose the educational path—public, charter, private, or home-based—that best fits their needs.”

Oklahoma has been a prominent national leader when it comes to providing school-choice opportunities to families from all income levels.

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.

According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC), the number of children benefiting from the program in the ongoing 2026-2027 school year totals 42,012. Most of those children are from lower-income and middle-class families, according to OTC data. Notably, participation increased this year among children who are on welfare programs such as food stamps, those considered “financially disadvantaged,” and homeless children.

Oklahoma also offers the Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (LNH) program, which allows families to use state tax dollars to pay for private-school tuition for children with special needs, as well as foster children, adopted children, and the children of military families. The scholarships range from $4,196 to $22,236 per child, based on a child’s diagnosis.

Oklahoma also has a strong open-transfer law that allows students to attend any public-school district, so long as seats are available. Oklahoma also has public charter schools in both urban and rural areas, and homeschooling is thriving and unregulated.

Since 2020, numerous reports have ranked Oklahoma among the top 10 states, or just outside the top 10, when it comes to attracting movers from other parts of the U.S., including younger workers.

The state is now on a stronger trajectory of population growth than it was in the prior decade, according to recent estimates issued by researchers at the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, who predict that Oklahoma’s population growth will continue at a healthy pace for decades.

In 2020, Oklahoma’s population was more than 3.9 million. By 2030, officials at the Weldon Cooper Center predict Oklahoma’s population will reach more than 4.2 million, an increase of 7.6 percent over the decade. That’s significantly greater than the 5.5 percent growth rate the state experienced between 2010 and 2020.

Officials at the Weldon Cooper Center project that Oklahoma’s population will rise 11.4 percent overall from 2020 to 2050, increasing from more than 3.9 million people in 2020 to more than 4.4 million by 2050.

Oklahoma’s population growth since 2020 has coincided with the adoption of a wide range of conservative policies, including significant income-tax cuts, the creation of a statewide school-choice program, and the adoption of culturally conservative policies such as a prohibition on males competing in women’s sports.