This year’s state budget agreement includes millions more for Oklahoma public schools, continuing a trend that has been ongoing for years now.

In fact, total funding for Oklahoma public schools has increased by billions since 2018.

Yet some lawmakers continue to act otherwise, ignoring the flood of cash that has gone to Oklahoma’s K-12 public schools since 2018—and the lack of improved outcomes.

During a recent Senate debate on legislation addressing a scholarship program for children with special needs, state Sen. Julia Kirt, D-Oklahoma City, declared, “We’ve never tried that with our public schools—to actually pour money in.”

Kirt did not cite a dollar figure that she would consider to be pouring money into public schools, but total revenue to Oklahoma schools has already surged by more than $3.3 billion since 2018.

In the 2017-2018 school year, Oklahoma public schools reported having $6,300,400,107 in new revenue. By the 2023-2024 school year, the most recent for which full data are available, schools reported having $9,600,703,488 in revenue from all sources.

Oklahoma public-school revenue surged from $9,067 per student in 2017-2018 to $13,736 per student in 2023-2024, an increase of 51 percent.

The pace of school funding increases during that time is unprecedented. State Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, has noted that the increase in state funding to schools since 2018 exceeds the total increase in state funding provided during the 25 years prior to 2018.

The per-student funding provided to Oklahoma’s public schools is now significantly greater than the average private-school tuition in both Oklahoma and nationwide.

According to Private School Review, the average private school tuition in Oklahoma is $8,145 for the 2024-2025 school year. The review found that Oklahoma private elementary schools’ average tuition cost is $8,320 annually, while the private high school average is $9,403 per year.

Oklahoma public schools’ per-student funding of $13,736 per student is also greater than the national average private school tuition, based on data compiled by Private School Review.

Yet even as school funding has exploded, academic outcomes have declined.

In 2024, Oklahoma high-school graduates had an average ACT composite score of 17.6 (out of a possible 36). In comparison, Oklahoma students had an average composite score of 19.3 in 2018. The same percentage of Oklahoma graduates—100 percent—took the test both years.

According to National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests administered in Oklahoma and nationwide in 2024, Oklahoma fourth- and eighth-grade students’ achievement in reading and math are now ranked among the nation’s worst.

Researchers say 10 points on a state’s NAEP scale score roughly equates to a year of learning. Oklahoma’s fourth-grade reading NAEP score has declined nine points since 2019.

When Edunomics Lab analyzed states’ “return on investment” data from 2013 to 2024, tracking NAEP 4th grade reading and 8th grade math scores alongside per-student spending, they found in Oklahoma, “Reading 4th grade scores fell through the decade and continue to decline even as spending increased.”

Kirt is not the only public official to portray Oklahoma public schools as the neglected stepchild of state budget writers, despite the massive infusion of cash.

Last in the Region?

In a press release issued earlier this year, House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City declared, “We rank 49th in the nation for public education and last in the region for teacher pay and per-student spending.”

Munson did not cite a source for her teacher-pay claim, and it is contradicted even by left-wing sources.

A report issued in April by the National Education Association, a teachers’ union, showed that Oklahoma’s average teacher salary in 2023-2024 was $61,330, which is higher than the average in three of the six states that border Oklahoma, not last in the region.

Also, while Colorado’s average public-school teacher salary was $68,647, cost-of-living differences indicate Oklahoma teachers enjoy more buying power. A teacher earning about $52,000 per year in Oklahoma City has the same buying power as a Denver, Colorado, teacher earning $68,647, indicating that Oklahoma likely ranks ahead of four of six bordering states in terms of the buying power of the average teacher’s salary.

And the gap with a fifth border state, Texas, is not dramatic. The NEA report showed that average teacher pay in Texas was only $1,133 more per year, or $94 per month, than Oklahoma counterparts. After accounting for cost-of-living differences, Oklahoma teachers come out slightly ahead.

Notably, the NEA report also showed that Oklahoma public schools receive more than $13,000 per student.

Munson did not explain why that amount is insufficient when private schools in Oklahoma successfully operate on significantly lower per-student tuition rates.

And the comparison with other states does not necessarily show that greater spending produces dramatically better academic outcomes.

The state of New York is projected to spend $36,293 per student in the 2024-25 school year. Yet a recent report by the Citizens’ Budget Commission, “Highest Costs, Middling Marks,” found that “student performance in New York is middle-of-the-pack nationally and lower than neighboring states that spend less.”

In 2024, Oklahoma fourth-grade students achieved a scale score of 233 on the NAEP math test. New York students scored only one point higher, 234, despite the massive difference in per-student funding.

Does the Money Make It to the Classroom?

Furthermore, instructional spending represents less than 50 percent of expenses at roughly 150 of Oklahoma’s more than 500 school districts. That’s well below the national average.

Yet an effort to require that public schools spend at least half their budget on classroom learning failed to pass out of the Oklahoma House of Representatives this year. Munson was among those who voted to kill that bill.

Another state lawmaker recently suggested that Oklahoma’s per-student funding average should be nearly doubled from its current rate of $13,736.

Oklahoma’s Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarships for Students with Disabilities (LNH) program allows students to use state tax dollars to pay for private-school tuition, and primarily serves children with special needs, such as autism. The scholarships range from $4,196 to $22,236 per child, based on a child’s diagnosis.

During debate on a bill easing access to the LNH program, state Sen. Carri Hicks suggested more students should be funded at the top level provided for children with autism and similar challenges.

“Man, wouldn’t that be great if we were going to do this for public schools?” said Hicks, D-Oklahoma City. “If a student qualified for an IEP (Individualized Education Program) at three years old, well now they’d get $22,000 annually until they graduate high school. Wow. That would make a huge difference. I’d love to see that legislation.”

However, under existing law, Oklahoma public schools do receive more than $22,000 to serve students with significant learning challenges who can also qualify for an LNH scholarship.

Furthermore, there are public school districts in Oklahoma where all students—including those with no form of disability—are funded at levels that meet or exceed the $22,000 per-student level Hicks suggested would be transformative.

Even so, the academic results in many of those districts differ little from statewide averages and, in many instances, are worse.

The Billings district has per-student funding of $25,076. Just 12.4 percent of students in the district met or exceeded grade-level standards on state testing in 2023-2024.

The Dahlonegah district has $23,457 per student, but just 12.7 percent of students achieved grade-level standards.

Geary has per-student funding of $30,269 per student. Just 28.2 percent of students met or exceeded grade-level standards.

Forgan has per-student funding of $22,289 per student. Only 35 percent of students met or exceeded grade-level standards.

Sweetwater has per-student funding of $33,986. Only 34.3 percent of students in the district met or exceeded grade-level standards on state testing in 2023-2024.

The trend of highly funded Oklahoma public schools producing lackluster academic results has been notable for several years.

In 2020, the national average composite ACT score was 20.6. Only four of Oklahoma’s highest-funded schools beat the national average ACT score that year. In contrast, the average ACT score at 18 high-funded public-school districts was below the state average, which was only 18.8 in the 2019-2020 school year.