Inequity In College Funding Debated On Oklahoma House Floor Tuesday

Both the House and the Senate discussed dozens of bills that will fund specific agencies throughout the state. One big topic Tuesday was if state colleges are over funded.

Tuesday, May 28th 2024, 5:23 pm

By: Haley Weger

OKLAHOMA CITY -

Lawmakers at the state capitol are working on the final steps for the 2025 state budget. The state Senate passed the overall budget bill Tuesday, which will move over to the House for consideration, then finally the governor.

Meanwhile, the state house discussed a handful of individual budget bills that will fund specific projects and state agencies.

“We got one job here, to do a budget that is fair and equitable, that represents all of us,” Rep. Regina Goodwin (D-Tulsa) said.

There was a lot of debate on the house floor over companion bills to fund state universities.

The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University were each allotted $80 million, while Langston University was given $2.7 million. This highlighted a discussion on inequity.

Goodwin criticized the process, saying Langston is getting less because it’s an HBCU, or historically black college or university.

“What are the connections to OSU in this building?,” Goodwin said. “Why are there not connections to Langston University?”

Some lawmakers pushed back on this claim.

“I know that there’s still racism in this world and in this state, but it doesn’t have to do with this bill,” Rep. John Talley (R-Stillwater) said.

Representative Trey Caldwell (R-Lawton) says that Langston gets more funding per-pupil than most universities in the state.

“I do want to correct some of those misconceptions that have been brought up in these questions,” Caldwell said. “Right now, Langston University received $8,812 per student of state funding. Cameron [University] in southwest Oklahoma, my alma mater that fills a similar mission set as a regional institution, receives $6,642 in state funding.”

Caldwell says that OSU gets $4,953 per-student, Rogers State receives $4,700 per-student and OU receives $8,885 per-student.

The highly debated budget bill passed out of the state House, with only no votes from democrats.

“It’s not a perfect piece of legislation, there is no perfect bill,” Caldwell said.