Oklahoma

Abstract

This past year, the state of Oklahoma experienced two mid-year revenue failures. The first of these forced a 3% cut to state agencies in January, while the second was announced in March forcing an additional 4% cut to all agencies. The legislature reduced the cuts to Common Education from 7% to 3% with supplemental appropriations. The State Department of Education distributed these cuts across many funded line item allocations to lessen the cut to the funding formula. The state board of education distributed $2,426,721,434 to school districts in FY 2017, representing 2.34% less than the FY 2016 appropriation. Higher education was subject to the deepest cut in FY 2017, resulting in a 15.9% reduction from the initial FY 16 funding allocation. State funding for higher education in Oklahoma has fallen 21.7% per student since 2008. 1