Thursday, April 30, 2026 • Cloudy, mid-60s. ☁️

🤩 Do you have a weekend event you’d like to promote? Message me at [email protected].

By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice
👉 Click here to support this newsroom

OKLAHOMA CITY — A $2,000 teacher salary increase advancing through the Legislature has raised concerns among school district leaders of whether state funding will support its total cost.

The Oklahoma House approved the teacher pay raise, outlined in Senate Bill 201, by a vote of 92-1 on Tuesday, more than a month after receiving the bill from the Senate. The legislation, which returns to the Senate for final review, would add $2,000 to the state-mandated minimum salaries for Oklahoma teachers and certified school employees. 

Although lawmakers budgeted $100 million for the pay raise, some district leaders said their schools likely will have to pay out of pocket to cover the full expense, especially if they already pay above the minimum salary schedule for teachers.

The $100 million allocation is part of a $232 million package of added funding budgeted for public education.

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said the extra money should be sufficient for districts to raise their teachers’ salaries, regardless of whether they pay at or above state minimums.

👉 Click here to read the rest of the story

Top engineers at Anthropic and OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code.

If you're not using AI, you're spending 40 hours doing what they do in 4.

These 100+ Claude Code hacks fix that and help you ship 10x faster.

Sign up for The Code and get:

Claim your free playbook

Editor’s note: Links requiring subscriptions have an *.

Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:

• Atoka County residents cleaning up after tornado damages dozens of homes, campers, structures (KXII)

• Oklahoma City's budget faces cuts, police spending draws backlash (The Oklahoman)*

• Norman homeless shelter lawsuit dismissed (StateImpact Oklahoma)

• Pontotoc County man faces new charges after alleged hatchet attack (KXII)

• Former Chickasha teacher charged with child abuse; mothers of victims react (News 9)

• Parishioners react after former Tulsa catholic deacon is charged with bank fraud (News On 6)

• GOP lawmaker defies party on immigration, defends Jimmy Kimmel in exit speech (The Oklahoman)*

• Bill revisits birth certificate restrictions on sex assignment (Tulsa World)*

• How Tulsa is tapping opioid settlement funds for housing, treatment and hope (Tulsa Flyer)

• Nitrate contaminates the drinking water of Oklahomans, study finds (Oklahoma Voice)

• This proposed policy could lead to more housing in Tulsa’s north side. How does it work? (The Oklahoma Eagle)

• Councilors hear pitch for modifying funding plan for Kirkpatrick Heights-Greenwood Master Plan (Tulsa World)*

• Oklahoma treasurer sued over alleged open records violation (Oklahoma Voice)

• Tribal nations in Oklahoma awarded million of dollars to boost broadband access (KOSU)

• National Council rebukes high court, cites “by blood” ruling in no-confidence vote (Mvskoke Media)

• Oklahoma Senate advances bill to repeal 1-year sit-out rule for transferring student-athletes (KOCO)

• Here’s the most venomous snake in Oklahoma, plus six others to avoid (The Oklahoman)*

💰 Advertise: Let’s collaborate on content for your business! $200 per ad placement. Headline, photo, blurb (50-100 words), link back to you. More services available. Message me at [email protected].

Tip jar or monthly support: @Ryan-Oklahoma-Memo

News tips and reader comments: [email protected]

Go more in-depth: Join me on Substack.