Oklahoma House Bill HB1096

Oklahoma 2025 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/3/25
• Refer: 2/4/25
• Report Pass: 3/5/25
• Engrossed: 3/12/25
• Refer: 4/1/25
• Report Pass: 4/22/25
• Enrolled: 5/19/25
• Passed: 5/27/25

Caption

Schools; modifying goals of certain programs; modifying eligibility for certain higher education programs; adding references to Classic Learning Test; effective date; emergency.

Summary

HB1096 makes a series of changes to Oklahoma school and higher-education statutes. In K-12 education, it revises the goals and references in the state’s professional development and testing laws, including updating language tied to ACT, SAT, and CLT assessments, and allowing certain equivalent college-entrance scores to be used when deciding whether a student needs remediation. It also adds a new definition of “testing site” and requires students taking the Classic Learning Test to take it at a brick-and-mortar testing site. The bill also updates eligibility rules for two state higher-education aid programs. For the Oklahoma State Regents’ Academic Scholars Program, it modernizes the reference to qualifying college-entrance exams. For the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, it allows equivalent SAT or CLT scores to satisfy eligibility requirements for certain students, including students from non-accredited schools or nontraditional educational settings. The bill is set to take effect July 1, 2025, and it includes an emergency clause, indicating lawmakers intended immediate effectiveness upon passage and approval.

Impact

HB1096 amends multiple provisions in Title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes governing teacher professional development, statewide student assessments, remediation, and scholarship/access programs. It broadens the statutory recognition of the Classic Learning Test alongside the ACT and SAT, updates score-based eligibility language, and creates a new statutory requirement that CLT testing occur at a physical testing site. The bill affects school districts, the State Board of Education, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, students seeking remediation, and students applying for state scholarship or tuition-assistance programs.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have generally favorable legislative support, as reflected by passage in both chambers and relatively strong vote margins on third reading and final action. The votes suggest the measure was broadly acceptable to many lawmakers, though not unanimous, indicating some reservations remained. The inclusion of an emergency clause and the bill’s movement through committee and floor votes suggest leadership treated it as a timely education-policy update.

Contention

The main points of contention likely centered on the bill’s testing and higher-education eligibility changes, especially the formal recognition of the CLT and the requirement that CLT be taken only at a brick-and-mortar testing site. Those provisions may have raised access, implementation, and equity concerns for students who rely on alternative testing arrangements or nontraditional schooling. The votes show a meaningful minority opposed the bill at each stage, suggesting some lawmakers were uneasy with the scope of the changes or the policy direction on standardized testing and scholarship eligibility.