OKLAHOMA CITY Virtual school days will be limited to two days towards the required 180 days of classroom instruction time required by law beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
Gov. Kevin Stitt recently approved Senate Bill 758, co-authored by President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton (R-Tuttle), who said in a press release that this piece of legislation was important to him. He believes the best place for children to learn is in the classroom.
“Once this becomes law, it will help with learning, social skills and working parents who have to schedule their lives around arbitrary virtual learning days,” he said in the press release. Paxton’s wife, Misti, taught in the Tuttle Public School District for almost three decades before retiring.
“Our students deserve a high-quality education, and that begins with ensuring in-person learning remains the foundation of our school system,” Paxton said in an April interview with an Oklahoma City media company. “Virtual instruction should be a tool for emergency situations, not a substitute for the critical, handson learning experiences that take place in the classroom.”
Oklahoma introduced virtual school instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools were shut down in 2020. A 2022 report by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs showed that the number of students enrolled in traditional public schools fell by 45,288 between the 2019-2020 school year and the following 2020-2021 school year. Most schools reopened for in-person instruction during the 2021-2022 school year.
Paxton and Sen. Kristen Thompson (R-Edmond) originally introduced this legislation calling for restricted virtual classroom instruction in 2024 as SB 1768. Records show that it passed in the Senate on a 31-16 vote, but did not pass in the House of Representatives.
Sen. Brent Howard (R-Altus) is the co-sponsor of three bills that became law without the governor’s signature last week. During the legislative session, a bill sent to the governor’s desk can become law without his signature provided no action, such as approval or veto, is taken within five days.
The three bills that are now law include:
• House Bill 1743, which modifies the state’s probate procedure for summary administration by changing the timing requirement for filing a “combined notice.” This document consolidates various notifications related to estate proceedings. The modifications will allow more flexibility in the administrative process while preserving protections for creditors and interested parties in estate settlements.
• HB 1991 amends Section 461 of the state’s criminal procedure statutes to provide additional options for defendants posting bond across jurisdictions. It specifically clarifies and expands existing bail procedures by giving defendants more flexibility in addressing holds across different jurisdictions.
• HB 2746 relates to revenue and taxation and will amend state statutes related to the Oklahoma Remote Quality Jobs Incentive Act. Specifically, it modifies eligibility requirements for basic health benefits plans.
Sen. Spencer Kern (R-Duncan) authored two bills and co-sponsored two bills that became law last week without the governor’s signature. The two new laws he co-sponsored are:
• HB 1089, which pertains to amusements and sports—specifically horse racing. The measure seeks to amend the existing state horse racing legislation and modify the negotiation requirements and representation for horsemen’s organizations.
Rules will now be updated pertaining to organizations, such as racetracks, and negotiations with official representatives of different horse breeds participating in live race meets.
• HB 1438, which will modify two sections of state law related to water resources and grant programs. It will primarily increase the maximum funding amounts for certain grants. The intent is to provide more financial flexibility for water-related infrastructure and improvement projects in rural and smaller Oklahoma communities.
The two bills Kern authored are:
• SB 111, which pertains to contractors and decreasing the number of sewage disposal system installations for certain certification. The bill seeks to reduce the number of individual sewage disposal system installations that require certification from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality from more than 10 per year to more than one per year.
• SB 634, which pertains to adding certain members to the Impaired Driving Prevention Advisory Committee. Nineteen members are outlined in the bill text as eligible members of the committee, which meets up to four times per year. New members would include the State Commissioner of Health, the Director of the Department of Transportation, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority and the Executive Director of the State Board of Pharmacy.