Oklahoma CareerTech system requests budget increase of $73.37 million

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma’s system for vocational education has asked for $255 million in state funding for the next fiscal year to add support for career training and adult learning programs.

The governing board for the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education approved the request Thursday for the 2028 fiscal year.

If granted in full, it would represent a $73.37 million budget increase for the state CareerTech system, shrinking waitlists for job training programs, supporting middle and high school courses, and adding funds for adult education.

The request now goes to the Oklahoma Legislature. Lawmakers will consider it along with other state agencies’ needs as they craft a state budget during the 2027 legislative session, which begins in February.

The CareerTech board similarly asked for a major funding hike last year, but its request was largely discarded.

State CareerTech Director Brent Haken said he’s more optimistic this year. The two leading candidates for governor, Republican Mike Mazzei and Democrat Cyndi Munson, have given vocal support for CareerTech programs, generating the “most positive discussion I’ve heard since I’ve been here,” said Haken, who took office in 2023.

“The reason why is because (the candidates) always couple that with their discussions of, ‘We have to support business and industry,’” Haken said. “If we’re going to support business and industry, they have to have a workforce, and so, they’ve been very positive in linking those two things together.”

The largest piece of the $73.37 million increase is a proposal for $27.65 million in additional funds for postsecondary workforce training. Haken said this would whittle down an 11,000-student waitlist for job training programs and would support apprenticeships.

The smallest ask for an increase is $3.72 million and a $750,000 supplemental appropriation to cover the rising cost of CareerTech employees’ insurance benefits.

Another $16 million in added funds would expand CareerTech courses at the K-12 level, particularly in middle schools. While about half of all Oklahoma high school juniors and seniors have participated in a CareerTech class, only 34% of middle school students take a vocational course, Haken said.

Early exposure to career opportunities is critical in preventing high school dropouts, he said.

“We need to make them aware of what it looks like to be in a path that is trades-focused, that has direct career ties, that has great income, that is attainable pretty easily,” Haken said. “We are a high-dropout state, and a lot of that is because they don’t understand why I would stay in school. What’s it going to do for me? And so, we need to get them to understand you could go to a trades-based education, and you could be very successful without any debt, without any cost.”

Another $10.5 million would add more vocational classes, student organizations and certificate-granting programs in high schools, like agricultural education, family and consumer sciences, engineering, and trade and industrial courses.

There’s a waitlist of 76 such programs in K-12 districts that don’t yet have state funding, Haken said.

The $10.5 million fund also would add “more salary support” for CareerTech teachers working with K-12 students. These teachers are required to file more reports and complete more tasks than other K-12 educators.

“Those things that we require take more work on their behalf, and we need to probably give them more than $2,000 for doing that,” Haken said.

A one-time $10 million appropriation would create an incentive fund to open new CareerTech centers in parts of the state that don’t yet have one.

An additional $5.5 million in recurring funds would support adult education and family literacy programs for people age 16 or older without a high school diploma. 

These programs, which currently rely on federal funds, help students complete a high-school equivalency program, like the General Education Development test and teach, reading, math and career-readiness skills as an “on ramp” to job training or higher education, agency staff told the board before the budget vote.

The federal government withheld funds for adult education nationwide this year. That uncertainty caused some adult programs in Oklahoma to close, Haken said. Fulfilling the $5.5 million request “would be a way that Oklahoma could at least get in the game and try to participate in some way,” he said.

An initial version of the CareerTech budget plan included the $5.5 million for adult education within the $27.65 million request for postsecondary workforce training. It has since been split out as a separate budget item, raising the overall budget request.