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House and Senate leaders gather with the governor to announce a state budget agreement.

The reached budget agreement provides a 5-percent increase in investment in core state services such as education, infrastructure, public safety, health care, jobs and the economy and other areas.

House District 11 Representative Derrel Fincher said the budget also prioritizes education from Pre-K through college and CareerTechs and gives teachers a $1,220 pay raise.

As a reminder of how far Oklahoma has come, Rep. Fincher said the State has increased the funding to common education by over 25-percent in the last two years. He said Oklahoma cannot become one of the top ten states in education results without appropriate funding for our public school.

The budget appropriates an additional $74.3 million to public school classrooms that schools can use as they see fit.

The appropriated budget to education fully funds the Reading Sufficiency Act for the first time to help children in early grades learn to read on grade level. The budget also fully funds concurrent enrollment (enrolled in a class that provides high school and college credit) for our high school juniors and seniors so they graduate with college credits.

CareerTech center employees and teachers will get a pay boost, as will college teachers, and university research programs will be bolstered by an additional $28 million.

This budget raises no new taxes, and it sets aside $200 million in savings to help avoid cuts to core services in future economic downturns. By the end of the year, the state should have $1 billion in its savings account.

Northeast Oklahoma will receive $500,000 to fund public-private partnerships to maintain clean water.

More than $55 million will be spent to boost state employee pay and to help us continue to modernize government to create more efficiencies and transparency.

Rep. Fincher said the budget will fully fund the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s eight-year infrastructure plan and giving $30 million to our County Improvements for Roads and Bridges fund to keep its five-year plan on track.

On the public safety front, Fincher said they have appropriated enough money to sponsor two new Oklahoma Highway patrol academies to help keep the populace safe. He said they are giving correctional officers a 14-percent pay increase to bring their pay to the regional average. They are also providing more funding for mental health services and drug recovery programs to help divert people away from prison.

This budget allots money for jobs and economic development through specific programs under the Department of Commerce, including providing more funding for the governor to use in a quick closing action fund to attract businesses.

The budget also includes increased funding for provider rates at rural nursing homes and for more physician training for those that will serve in rural hospitals.

But Fincher said they still have work ahead. For example, House efforts to provide a cost of living increase to retired teachers, state workers, and others on state pensions were diverted by the Senate. He saud they will pick those up again next year, and he fully expects those to pass.