Fox 25 News interviewed Stitt for the story. In the interview, Stitt said he was “always thinking about classrooms-to-careers.”
“I want every kid ready for a career,” Stitt said. “And so, I’m thinking about even making it a requirement to graduate from Oklahoma high schools — you’ve got to either be accepted to college, you have to be accepted into a career tech or you have to be going into the army, you have to have some kind of plan post-graduation to go get a great job.”
In the story, Fox 25 characterizes Stitt’s comments as:
“Stitt announced Friday that he wants to prepare every student for success in the workforce. … He has some ideas to make this happen, like requiring students to graduate from Oklahoma high schools. Stitt also wants students to have to be accepted into a college. If not college, he says kids should be accepted into a CareerTech. Otherwise, Stitt says a student would have to be going into the army.”
The “announcement” references a post made by Stitt highlighting education policy achievements in 2024.
In Oklahoma, we’re turning classrooms into career launchpads. From expanding apprenticeships to higher education, we want to prepare every student for success in the workforce. pic.twitter.com/tuG7respJn
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) December 27, 2024
The story sparked widespread concern online, including on TikTok, Reddit and Facebook. Users’ comments include questions of legality about compulsory military service, complaints of unaffordable prices of higher education institutions and concerns about what would happen to students with disabilities who may not qualify for military service.
But, in a statement to StateImpact, the governor’s office says the comments were “taken out of context.”
“The governor would love to see every high school student graduate high school with a plan for their future, whether that be college, career tech, military or workforce,” Communications Director Abegail Cave said in an email. “He in no way suggested that kids who don’t go to college would be mandated to serve in the military. … It was a comment given in a broader discussion about education policy and workforce that was taken out of context in a news story.”
Cave said there is no plan or legislation at this point for a policy change.
Fox 25 has since updated the story to add a clarification from the governor’s office that, “as of right now, this is just an idea, not an initiative or plan,” and Stitt’s office says it is not suggesting mandatory military service.
Fox 25 did not return a request for comment before publication.
