August 7 is Back to School for the area kids. For the 2026-2027 school year, several new state education laws will be taking effect. The changes affect daily recess for elementary students, teacher’s pay and beginning next year, the change to the length of the school calendar.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers approved a change in the state’s minimum teacher salary schedule increasing it by $2,000. The increase applies to certified teachers only and does not apply to support staff.
House Bill 1484 ('Rain's Law') requires fentanyl prevention, mental health, and suicide awareness education for grades 6–12.
A new state law, Bill 1481, also takes effect requiring all public schools to provide students grade, kindergarten through fifth grades, to have 40 minutes of recess daily. For this school year, the Oklahoma State Department of Education is allowing districts to count up to 20 minutes of that recess as instructional time as they transition, then beginning the 2027-2028 school year the entire 40 minutes must be non-instructional. The intent of this bill is to make sure students receive time away from classrooms.
A lot of school districts have extended the school day to accommodate the new requirement while some feel the can meet the new requirement without changing class schedules.
Beginning next year, schools will be required to increase their instructional calendar to 173 school day, the current requirement is 166 days. That means that districts will have to ad seven days to their calendar year.