Whatever challenges Oklahoma public schools may face, data presented at a budget hearing for the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE) made one thing clear: It’s not the result of funding cuts.

Instead, data presented to lawmakers showed that per-pupil revenue in Oklahoma public schools has surged 50 percent over the past decade—yet academic outcomes have declined during that time.

The state’s poor academic outcomes may be tied to the fact that a smaller share of funding is reaching the classroom than in the past, and Oklahoma children also spend less time at school than many of their peers nationwide.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Lindel Fields noted that Oklahoma’s per-pupil funding has increased by about 50 percent over the last decade and that lawmakers have increased the state appropriation to public schools by $1.6 billion since 2018.

However, as funding has surged, the share of money spent in the classroom has declined.

In 2016, records show that 56 percent of school funding went to instruction. Today, just 52 percent of funding goes to instruction, meaning nearly half of the funds now go to non-instructional uses.

State Rep. Chad Caldwell, an Enid Republican who chairs the House Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee, said that trend worries many lawmakers.

“One of the areas that is a struggle for this body is when you see record levels of investment, but you also see a steady growth in non-instructional spending, and non-instructional spending, the growth in that outpacing growth in classroom expenditures,” Caldwell said.

He noted that more than one out of every four school districts in Oklahoma now spends less than 50 percent of funding in the classroom.

At the same time less money is reaching the classroom, Fields noted that Oklahoma students also spend substantially less time in the classroom than children in other states.

“Oklahoma goes quite a few days less than schools in the region,” Fields said.

Oklahoma schools are required to provide a minimum of 166 instructional days. But in neighboring Kansas, schools provide 186 days of instruction, the equivalent of four extra weeks. In Texas, schools provide an average of 180 days of instruction. In Mississippi, which has received national acclaim for dramatic improvement in reading outcomes, schools provide 180 days of instruction, as do schools in Florida.

“I think ultimately, getting the number of school days up would be in the best interest of the state,” Fields told lawmakers.

One thing that is not holding Oklahoma back is low average teacher pay—with one caveat.

Oklahoma’s average teacher compensation is now $61,330. Adjusted for cost-of-living differences, that ranks second-best in a seven-state region that includes Oklahoma and all bordering states, amounting to the regional equivalent of $69,046, Fields noted.

However, Fields said the starting salary for a first-year teacher in Oklahoma ($41,152 in raw dollars) outranks only two states in the region when adjusted for cost-of-living differences, indicating that veteran teacher pay in the state is very competitive, but starting salaries are not, which could reduce the inflow of new teachers in the coming years.

While critics have claimed Oklahoma schools substantially rely on emergency certified teachers, the share of those teachers has declined in recent years and now represents just five percent of the teacher workforce.

Photo credit: Superintendent Lindel Fields Facebook