Senate Bill 1338 would make permanent a previous pilot program to employ literacy coaches. If school districts are identified for intervention and decline support, they would not be eligible to receive certain funding.
Committee Chair Sen. Adam Pugh (R-Edmond), who is running for State Superintendent, said the goal is expansion.
"[Literacy coaches] have only been able to get into 132 school districts," Pugh said. "But we need to be able to reach every single school district in the state of Oklahoma and every single early childhood classroom."
Pugh said there were roughly a dozen literacy coaches currently employed by the state department in targeted schools. To expand the program, he said efforts would need to be made not to "cannibalize" school districts by pilfering reading specialists from schools for the literacy teams and creating gaps.
Pugh also previewed an overhaul to the Strong Readers Act.
Senate Bill 1778 would require first through third-grade students who do not meet literacy targets to participate in a summer academy. Starting this fall, if first graders do not improve or do not participate in the academy, they would go to a transitional second-grade class or move on with targeted pull-out sessions.
In the 2028-29 school year, the law would apply to second graders. The following school year, third graders not meeting grade-level targets would participate in a summer academy, but notably, if they do not improve, they would be retained in third grade with intensive intervention services, unless parents submit a written consent to be promoted to fourth grade.
The efforts come as Oklahoma's students continue to stagnate in reading scores. In the 2024-25 school year, only 27% of third graders tested proficient or advanced in reading on state tests. On National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) tests, only 23% of fourth graders and 20% of eighth graders tested proficient.
Third grade retention was written into state law in 2011's Reading Sufficiency Act. However, the legislature whittled down its enforcement over the years through exemptions, fully repealing the policy during the last legislative session with the statute's updated Strong Readers Act.
Asked what changed since last year to bring back the policy, Pugh said because of all of the exemptions written into the law, he thought it best to start over.
"We just hit reset. And we said we are going to start over and completely rewrite [it]," Pugh said.
The measure is not the only effort this session to update the Strong Readers Act and bring back third grade retention, though Pugh noted what makes his policy different is including transitional classes for first and second graders.
Teacher Recruitment and Retention
Also on the Senate's priority list are measures to get and keep teachers in Oklahoma classrooms.
One measure, Senate Bill 1337, would expand the state's six weeks of paid teacher maternity leave to include fathers.
Pugh also proposed an additional 5% stipend — bringing the total to 10% — for qualified special education teachers through Senate Bill 1617. Five percent would be provided by the school district, and 5% would be allocated by the state.
Pugh also said all teachers would see a $2,500 pay raise. But, in a flat budget year, it may be a hard sell.
"We've got some identified funding sources, which, you know, I'm going to allow the appropriations team over the next few weeks to talk about with all of you as we begin to socialize our actual plan for where the money is going to come from," Pugh said.
Another proposition, Senate Bill 1776, is a teacher retention tax credit, which teachers could claim at the beginning of their eighth consecutive year. To keep it, they must remain in the district for the following three years or face a claw-back.
To recruit new teachers, Pugh is putting forth Senate Bill 1546, which updates the Inspired to Teach Program by renaming it the New Educators for Excellence in Teaching and Education (NEXT-ED) Program and doubling scholarship amounts for students obtaining education degrees at Oklahoma institutions of higher education.
Policies for Oklahoma students
Measures to improve student health and wellbeing also made the cut.
Pugh's Senate Bill 1437 would reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test in Oklahoma schools, based on the recommendations of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. President Donald Trump revived the test last summer, which was phased out during the Obama administration.
Senate Bill 1719 by Committee Vice Chair Sen. Ally Seifried (R-Claremore) would make permanent last session's bell-to-bell cell phone ban. Originally, the law required districts to adopt a policy for the 2025-26 school year and said districts "may" adopt a policy for subsequent years.
Seifried is also introducing Senate Bill 1481, which requires elementary schools to provide kindergarten through fifth graders 40 minutes of recess per day and stipulates that students can not be prohibited from recess as a form of discipline.
A full list of the previewed policies can be viewed here.
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KOSU's Lionel Ramos contributed to this report.
