Results of the 2025 Oklahoma Education Poll

Oklahomans show support for cell phone bans, a 180-day school year, and performance pay for teachers.

The 2025 legislative session has seen Oklahoma’s lawmakers in the House and Senate work to advance a large number of education bills. If adopted into law, some of these proposed bills would bring significant change to Oklahoma’s schools. One of the most highly publicized of these bills is Senate Bill 139, which requires public schools to establish policies prohibiting students from using cell phones in school. In both legislative bodies, there appears to be broad support for passing a school cell phone ban, but questions remain about how much flexibility the law should give individual school districts in setting their own cell phone policies.

Lawmakers have also devoted serious attention to in-person instructional time during the school year. In Oklahoma, the number of school days offered by most districts is far below the national standard of 180 days per school year, and this situation worsens if virtual days are excluded from the count of overall school days in the year. Senate Bill 758 would limit the use of virtual school days. In addition, HB 1412 seeks to incentivize schools to increase the number of in-person school days in the year by replacing the state’s chronic absence indicator on the statewide accountability system with a measure of in-person instructional days and time benchmarked against national standards (i.e., 180-day school year and 1,200 school hour/academic year).

There are also many other less publicized education bills related to high dosage tutoring, early literacy, and recess time that have gained traction this legislative session. But where does Oklahoma’s voting public stand on high-profile issues shaping education policymaking in our state? To understand how the public feels about major education issues, the Oklahoma Education Journal began releasing an annual statewide poll in 2024. Building on last year’s inaugural poll, this year’s 2025 edition explores many of the same high-profile education issues, monitoring whether public sentiments have changed over the past twelve months. The 2025 poll also presents results in new areas that have come to the forefront during the past year.

Fielded in early spring, the 2025 Oklahoma Education Poll contains a random sample of 997 Oklahomans from across the state. Results have a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, which is similar to that of national Gallup polls. To account for potential sampling bias, survey data were weighted to be representative of state population characteristics. For more details on the survey design, see the Poll Design and Methods section below.

School and State Grades

In Oklahoma, the state gives schools grades that reflect academic achievement levels and growth, graduation rates, post-secondary opportunities (e.g., Advanced Placement courses offered), and student attendance. In the poll, respondents were asked what grade they would give public schools in their community. They were also asked what grade they would give the state in managing Oklahoma’s K-12 education system. Results indicate that the public gives either poor or mediocre ratings to not only schools in their community but also when evaluating the state’s management of the K-12 education system.

In Figure 1, approximately 32% of respondents gave their local schools an A or B grade, which was down from 41% responding in this way in the 2024 Oklahoma Education Poll. Only 18% of respondents gave the state an A or B grade this year. These marks were down from 22% giving A or B grades to the state in 2024. For both the state and local schools, a C grade was most common. While there is fair amount of public dissatisfaction, these grades are somewhat similar to those reported in national surveys (Note. In national polls, a B grade is most common when respondents assess their local schools).

Figure 1.Grades for Local Schools and the State in Managing the K-12 Education System (%)

Funding for Schools and Teachers

In the 2025 poll, respondents were told that public school teachers in Oklahoma are paid an average of $56,000 a year. They were then asked whether they thought teachers’ salaries should increase, decrease, or stay about the same. Figure 2 indicates strong support for increasing teachers’ salaries with 75% indicating “Greatly Increase” or “Increase”.

Respondents were also informed that about $13,000 per child was being spent on education in Oklahoma’s public schools each year. They were then asked whether government funding for public schools should increase, decrease, or stay about the same. Figure 2 indicates support for raising funding for public schools (67%) in general. Considering the relatively stronger support for raising teachers’ salaries, it is conceivable that public support for increasing overall school funding is at least partly driven by a desire to increase teachers’ salaries in the state.

Figure 2.Funding for Schools and Teachers’ Salaries (%)

High-profile Education Issues

In Table 1, results for the 2024 and 2025 polls are presented for recent high-profile education policy issues in Oklahoma. The two annual polls show mostly consistent results. In both polls, respondents were told that Oklahoma adopted a law requiring students to use the restrooms or locker rooms that matched the sex listed on their birth certificate. Approximately 78% of respondents express support for this law in 2025 while 73% did so in 2024. Potential cell phone bans seem relatively popular as well. In both 2024 and 2025 polls, most respondents (60%) wished to ban students from using their cell phones during class. Only about one-third of respondents oppose prohibiting cell phones in schools.

In Oklahoma, there are over 500 school districts serving approximately 700,000 public school students. The number of districts to total students is one of the highest in the nation – a situation that has stirred ongoing debates in rural areas about school district consolidation (i.e., the combining of small districts into one larger district). In the poll, respondents offered their views on school district consolidation. Approximately 53% report support for combining small neighboring districts into one larger school district in 2025 although 60% express support for school district consolidation in 2024. Furthermore, support (47%) for school district consolidation remains stronger than opposition among respondents from small towns and rural areas with 39% of respondents residing in small towns and rural areas expressing opposition to school district consolidation.

Oklahoma has been in the national spotlight for its school choice initiatives in recent years, including provisions allowing for religious charter schools as well as an individual refundable tax-credit for private school tuition. In the poll, respondents offered their perspectives on public and private school choice in Oklahoma. Before giving their views, respondents were first provided short descriptions of charter schools, religious charter schools, and the state’s individual refundable tax-credit for private school tuition and fees. In both 2024 and 2025 polls, respondents express more support than opposition for charter schools, religious charter schools, and the individual refundable tax-credit for private school tuition and fees.

In the 2025 poll only, respondents were asked whether they supported performance pay for teachers based on their students’ academic growth. Importantly, this polling question stressed performance pay according to the academic growth of students rather than students’ achievement level. A large percentage (71%) of respondents support performance pay for teachers as determined by students’ academic growth during the school year. We also inquired about a potential 180-day school year requirement, finding that 66% of respondents support such a mandate.

Partisan Division… and Some Agreement

In Figure 3, Oklahoma’s Democrats and Republicans differ on several key education issues. As observed in 2024, the widest gulf between the two groups is on the state’s law requiring students to use the restroom or locker room that matches the sex listed on their birth certificate. Ninety-eight percent of Republicans support this law, but only 44% of Democrats support it. School choice also seems to be an area of growing disagreement between Republican and Democrat respondents. Most Republicans favor individual refundable tax-credits for private school tuition (58%), charter schools (60%), and religious charter schools (69%). By contrast, among Democrats, only 25% support individual refundable tax-credits for private school tuition, 34% support charter schools, and 19% support religious charter schools.

In other areas, there is greater overall support for key policy initiatives although the extent of support differs along party lines. For example, 72% of Democrats favor requiring schools to offer a 180-day school year while 65% of Republicans also support a 180-day school year mandate. There is also general support for cell phone bans among both groups. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans and 54% of Democrats support banning students from using their cell phones in Oklahoma’s classrooms.

Democrats and Republicans indicate overall support for increasing teacher compensation with 88% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans supporting raising teachers’ salaries. Additionally, a large share – 79% of Republicans – support teacher performance pay while a sizable majority of Democrats (62%) also support teacher performance pay.

Figure 3.Respondents (%) Indicating Support by Political Party

Parent/Guardians’ Views

In Figure 4, parents/guardians with children in the K-12 education system are compared to respondents without children in the state’s K-12 education system. With some differences, both groups of respondents express mostly similar views. The greatest difference was for a 180-day school year requirement, whereby 54% of parent/guardians support this mandate while 71% of non-parents/guardians support it. Even so, only 30% of parents/guardians indicate opposition to a 180-day school year mandate while 16% neither oppose nor support it.

Figure 4.Respondents (%) Indicating Support by Parent/Guardians vs. Non-parents/Guardians

Among both groups, there was more support for school choice policies than opposition. However, some observers have argued that school choice in Oklahoma is more relevant for those living in Tulsa and Oklahoma City where there are more private and charter school options available. Among parents/guardians residing in Oklahoma’s two large cities, there was more support for charter schools and the individual refundable tax-credit for private school tuition and fees – 53% of parents/guardians residing in Tulsa and Oklahoma City support charter schools, 40% support religious charter schools, and 53% support the individual refundable tax-credit for private school tuition and fees.

Conclusion

In this second annual Oklahoma Education Poll, results suggest support for initiatives receiving considerable attention from lawmakers in the current legislative session. Sixty percent of respondents in both the 2024 and 2025 polls support cell phone bans in Oklahoma’s classrooms with 67% of Republican respondents expressing support for such restrictions on cell phones. Furthermore, there is more support than opposition for a 180-day in-person school year requirement. This level of support is arguably surprising since many of Oklahoma’s K-12 districts currently offer less than 160 in-person school days a year.

Consistent with the 2024 poll, most Oklahomans favor increasing teacher pay. In the 2025 poll, however, results point to even greater support for teacher performance pay based on students’ academic growth. Both Democrat (62%) and Republican (79%) respondents report considerable support for teacher performance pay.

In the poll, a large partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans on public and private school choice policies was evident in both the 2024 and 2025 polls, but the extent of this divide on school choice in Oklahoma exceeds partisan differences observed in national polls on school choice. For Republicans, restricting the use of school bathrooms and locker rooms based on the sex listed a student’s birth certificate remains a unifying issue with 98% of Republicans favoring this law. By contrast, Democrats have a less cohesive stance on this issue. Forty-four percent of Democrats support the law.

This year’s poll shows strong public support for current legislative priorities, including cell phone bans and increased instructional time. While school choice is an area of partisan disagreement, the data suggest areas of common ground related to teacher compensation.

Poll Design and Methods

Sponsored by the THRIVE Center at the University of Oklahoma, this poll was administered in March of 2025. To obtain a representative sample, Random Digit Dialing (RDD) methods were performed, generating a sample frame of 64,071 cell phone numbers gathered from cellular base stations in every part of the state. In the 2025 poll, 28% of respondents resided in large cities, 13% resided in small/midsize cities, 20% resided in suburbs, and 40% resided in small town/rural areas. The sample consisted of 997 respondents with complete responses for every survey item. Based on this sample, the poll results have a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.

The main findings from the weighted sample provide a representative sample of Oklahomans (age 18 years and older). Post-stratification population weights were used to adjust the survey sample for non-response bias. The weights used for the full analytic sample ensure that the demographic characteristics of the sample match the characteristics of the adult population (18 and over) in Oklahoma. Responses were weighted according to the following characteristics: foreign-born status, racial/ethnic background, education level, age, political preference, parent/guardian status, and sex. To derive survey weights, population data were drawn from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

For sub-group analyses (e.g., Republican vs. Democrat respondents), results do not have the same level of representativeness as the full survey sample. The results presented for subgroups within the sample have larger margins of error depending on the sub-sample size. Therefore, caution is warranted when interpreting the results of the sub-group analyses. For the results presented in figures, percentage totals do not always add to 100 because of rounding to the nearest percentage point.

List of Questions

Q1. Schools in Oklahoma are given grades of A, B, C, D, or F on their overall performance? What overall grade would you give the public schools in your community?

Q2. What grade would you give the State in managing Oklahoma’s K-12 education system?

Q3. Recent estimates show that about $13,000/child is being spent each year in Oklahoma’s public schools. Do you think that government funding for public schools should increase, decrease, or stay about the same?

Q4. Public school teachers in Oklahoma are paid an average of $56,000 a year. Do you think that public school teachers’ salaries should increase, decrease, or stay about the same?

Q5. In other states, some schools offer performance pay for teachers if their students show high academic growth on state tests at the end of the school year. Do you support or oppose performance pay for teachers based on their students’ academic growth?

Q6. Charter schools are publicly funded schools but are not managed by a school board like other public schools. Do you support or oppose allowing charter schools in Oklahoma?

Q7. Oklahoma recently approved the nation’s first religious charter school? Do you support or oppose allowing religious charter schools in Oklahoma?

Q8. Oklahoma allows families to get a tax refund of up to $7,500 per child for private school expenses. Do you support or oppose allowing families to get a tax refund for their children’s private school tuition?

Q9. Oklahoma has over 500 school districts. Do you support or oppose combining two small neighboring districts into one larger school district?

Q10 Some say that cell phones are too distracting for students to have in the classroom. However, others say that cell phones can support student learning during class. Do you support or oppose… banning students from using their cell phones while in class?

Q11. Many states require schools to offer at least 180 days per school year. However, many schools in Oklahoma offer 165 or fewer days per school year. Do you support or oppose requiring Oklahoma’s schools to offer 180 days per school year?

Q12. Oklahoma recently passed a law requiring students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match the sex (male or female) listed on their birth certificate. Do you support or oppose this law?

Author Bio

Daniel Hamlin is Associate Professor of Education Policy and Research Director of the THRIVE Center at the University of Oklahoma