OKLAHOMA CITY — Bills that create new high school credit requirements are now law while others that would have permitted school chaplains and banned corporal punishment are dead.The 2024 legislative session ended on Thursday, marking the final opportunity for lawmakers to send bills to the governor’s desk.Gov.
Kevin Stitt signed into law a measure to add a mandatory fourth math credit to graduate from public high schools, starting with the graduating class of 2030. State lawmakers passed House Bill 3278 despite criticisms that it demotes world languages to a non-required credit.
Stitt also signed legislation that alters K-12 financial literacy courses. HB 2158 adds to the list of required financial literacy topics students must learn before graduation, including retirement accounts, credit scores and mortgage loans.
It also limits the eligible years to take a financial literacy credit to the final three years of high school. The previous law allowed students to earn it any time between seventh and 12th grade.
Once HB 3792 takes effect July 1, Oklahoma will offer tuition-free scholarships to students with disabilities.
The law creates the Oklahoma Access and Achievement Program. Students with intellectual disabilities can tap into the Oklahoma’s Promise scholarship fund to cover their tuition to college or another qualified post-secondary program if their families earn no more than $100,000 a year. The household income limit increases to $200,000 if the student was adopted.
Legislation that would prohibit corporal punishment of students with disabilities failed in the Oklahoma Legislature, again.
HB 1028 first made headlines in 2023 when the House voted it down and then reversed course amid public outcry. The full Senate never voted on the bill last year.
This time, the Senate passed an amended version of the measure after a passionate debate and sent it to the House, where it died without being heard.
Oklahoma’s school chaplain bill, Senate Bill 36, did not get a final hearing in the Senate before the deadline. The measure would have allowed public schools to hire religious chaplains or welcome them as volunteers to counsel students, as long as they didn’t attempt to proselytize.
The bill faced bipartisan opposition. Democrats were the most vocal, criticizing the bill as an effort to introduce religion into the public school system.
Despite initial momentum, a bill that would have expanded the Oklahoma State Board of Education with seats appointed by House speaker and Senate pro tem did not survive.
The House and Senate were unable to agree on a final version of HB 2562 in the final weeks of session. The Senate passed an amendment in late April that removed any mention of legislative appointments to the board, and the bill died in conference committee. Currently, only the governor has appointment power to the state Board of Education.
A bill that would strictly limit use of virtual school days reached the end of the road in April because it never got a hearing on the House floor.
SB 1768 would have permitted traditional in-person school districts to use virtual instruction days only in cases of inclement weather, staff illnesses or building maintenance issues. A House committee amendment added staff professional development days to the list of eligible reasons.
With the failure of HB 3329, Oklahoma schools won’t be required to provide free menstrual products in middle and high school bathrooms. The bill passed the state House but never made it out of committee in the Senate.
