Jordan Zakery is a Legislative Director for ExcelinEd in Action.
Oklahoma’s 2026 legislative session brought a student-centered focus to policy with bills aimed at improving literacy and math instruction, strengthening the teacher pipeline and ensuring parents and families have access to learning environments that best fit their students.
The result was a set of practical education policy changes that, taken together, can shape student outcomes and achievement across Oklahoma. Below is a look at laws Gov. Kevin Stitt has signed, their impact on students and what lawmakers may focus on in 2027.
In response to stagnant National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores in 2022 that showed just 24% of fourth grade students in Oklahoma are at or above NAEP Proficient in reading, lawmakers in 2024 set out to strengthen early literacy with SB 362. Provisions of the law included:
In 2026, Gov. Stitt, Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Sen. Adam Pugh championed SB 1778, which makes important updates to Oklahoma’s Strong Readers Act to advance a simple goal: catch reading problems early and respond with instruction that works. The bill strengthens evidence-based instruction, parent notification, literacy coaching and interventions and includes a third grade promotion gate for students who need extra time to become proficient readers.
Students who struggle to read by the end of third grade are more likely to struggle in every subject that follows. The new law gives schools clearer expectations for identifying those students and providing needed interventions before the gap widens.
Additionally, preservice teachers are required to learn about the harmful effects of three-cueing and how to provide reading instruction using high-quality instructional materials grounded in the science of reading. With these comprehensive policy changes, Oklahoma’s more than 685,000 public school students stand to benefit from stronger literacy instruction.
In 2025, Oklahoma’s NAEP data sounded the alarm on the need to strengthen math instruction statewide. With 31% of fourth grade students and only 17% of eighth grade students at or above NAEP Proficient in math, lawmakers recognized the need to prioritize early screening and timely intervention in early grades to put every student on a stronger path to math proficiency.
Oklahoma’s Math Achievement and Proficiency Act expanded access to advanced math for students who are academically ready, requires universal screening for students in grades 2-5 and provides individualized interventions for students who need additional support.
This session, Sen. Ally Seifried’s SB 1360 builds on the 2025 Act by giving math teachers access to evidence-based professional development and creating an Office of Mathematics Improvement within the State Department of Education.
Students need strong math instruction from day one, long before high school graduation requirements or career pathways come into view. Better teacher support and a more focused state role can help schools make math improvement more consistent from district to district statewide.
Sen. Pugh and Rep. Rob Hall’s HB 3372 tackles one of the most persistent challenges for charter schools: affordable facilities. The law creates a low-interest revolving loan fund for charter schools in their early years. The state will also provide mature charter schools with financial backing so that they can secure long-term private financing at much lower interest rates.
With this combination of policies, states like Idaho are helping charter schools ensure funding intended for instruction does not pay for facilities costs. The adoption of these policies will allow Oklahoma’s charter schools to grow and maximize their investment in the classroom, impacting nearly 20,000 students statewide.
In addition, lawmakers in 2026 provided an increase to the Parental Choice Tax Credit, a program that provides a refundable income tax credit of up to $7,500 for eligible families who pay or expect to pay for qualified expenses such as K-12 private school tuition and fees.
Speaker Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Lonnie Paxton’s HB 3705 increased the Parental Choice Tax Credit cap by $25 million, giving nearly 4,000 students the opportunity to access a school setting that best meets their needs.
In 2026, lawmakers renewed their focus on the most significant in-school driver of student achievement: teachers. Three new laws were adopted that address compensation, education requirements and paid family leave.
Teacher quality, staffing stability and classroom expertise shape what students learn every day. When paired with paid family leave policies, policymakers can incentivize teachers to stay in the profession, recruit more candidates to the workforce and ensure more classrooms are led by excellent teachers. In 2026 and beyond, Oklahoma lawmakers are ensuring students receive foundational instruction in reading and math from qualified teachers and teachers receive adequate leave and compensation.
In 2025, Oklahoma lawmakers passed a measure for a one-year bell-to-bell distraction-free schools policy with an optional opt-in following the initial pilot. This year, Rep. Chad Caldwell and Sen. Seifried’s HB 1276 makes Oklahoma’s bell-to-bell phone-free school policy permanent.
A survey of more than 20,000 public school educators released in October 2025 links stricter cell phone policies to less in-class phone use and higher teacher satisfaction. Limiting digital distractions will not only improve focus for Oklahoma’s students while in the classroom, it will also increase teacher satisfaction statewide.
As a result of 2026 legislation, Oklahoma students should see the difference in the places that matter most: stronger reading instruction, clearer math support, more learning options and fewer distractions during the school day.
Looking ahead, statewide elections in late 2026 will see a newly elected governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction take office in early 2027. While there will be shifts in statewide leadership, we expect lawmakers to remain focused on student-centered policies like 60 minutes of required daily math instruction, successful implementation of the Strong Readers Act, strengthening the tax credit scholarship program and increasing school accountability.
