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Oklahoma Governor's budget calls for $1.4 billion less spending, removal of education funding cap

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt greets people in the audience for his 2025 State of the State speech .
Sarah Liese
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KOSU
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt greets people in the audience for his 2025 State of the State speech .

Gov. Kevin Stitt on Monday called on Oklahoma lawmakers to spend nearly $1.4 billion less in the upcoming budget while cutting two key funding streams.

The Republican governor’s executive fiscal year 2026 budget unveiled Monday proposes slightly more than $11 billion in spending, and includes a .50% cut in the state’s personal and corporate income taxes as well as an amnesty program that gives Oklahomans the opportunity to pay past-due taxes without penalty.

Reducing the state’s 4.75% income tax rate would cost $202.6 million, while an identical cut to the corporate income tax rate would cost $34.7 million in fiscal year 2026, the Governor’s Office projected.

The budget, which serves as a starting point for lawmakers, proposed a tax amnesty program to generate an additional $75 million.

The last such program was in 2015 and brought in $139 million.

Stitt’s budget also includes

  • $2 million to fund a business court system and hire judges that “will be specially equipped to understand corporate and complex litigation.
  • The removal of the $250 million cap for the Parental Choice Tax Credit for tax year 2027 and beyond. The program, which provides up to $7,500 to help families cover private school expenses, is capped at $250 million in budget year 2026 and all subsequent years.
  • A slight increase for the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education;
  • And flat budgets for the State Department of Education, the Governor’s Office, the House and Senate, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the District Attorneys Council, the Attorney General, the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System and the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.

Barbara Hoberock is a senior reporter with Oklahoma Voice. She began her career in journalism in 1989 after graduating from Oklahoma State University. She began with the Claremore Daily Progress and then started working in 1990 for the Tulsa World. She has covered the statehouse since 1994 and served as Tulsa World Capitol Bureau chief. She covers statewide elected officials, the legislature, agencies, state issues, appellate courts and elections.
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