Education wins huge gains in 2023 legislative session

The 2023 legislative session continued the trend of allocating new levels of funding to education, three members of the Southwest Oklahoma delegation said Thursday.

Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Lawton, Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, and Rep. Toni Hasenbeck, R-Elgin, were the guests at the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce’s legislative luncheon, giving city business leaders some insight into the regular session that ended before Memorial Day (the special session still is on-going). All three commented on what has become a trend in the five years they have served Southwest Oklahoma: the Legislature approved an historic level of funding for education.

Caldwell, describing 2023 as a crazy year, said he was proud of the fact the Legislature passed the largest education package in state history, the third time in the last five years legislators could make that statement. He said the net effect has been in increase in education funding of about 50 percent in those five years, something that reflects the Legislature’s commitment to education.

Caldwell said it’s about more than youth. The first things prospective industries ask state leaders about is education and health care, and Oklahoma can brag about both.

Pae said legislative decisions have benefitted every student, teacher and parent, “no matter where you are at.” And, he called the legislative actions a holistic approach, one that tackles education on multiple fronts.

Caldwell also said state leaders continue to focus attention on health care, and that will benefit Southwest Oklahoma.

He said the Legislature allocated a portion of Oklahoma’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to health care, and that will help with plans to build a new hospital in Frederick. That community has been without a hospital since its facility closed its emergency and inpatient services in 2016, a situation that is not uncommon in rural Oklahoma, Caldwell and other state leaders say.

Caldwell said Frederick is only weeks away from completing a feasibility study on the proposal, which would qualify the town for ARPA funding specifically designed to support rural hospitals. Project supporters also are searching for other funding for what Caldwell predicts will be a successful addition to the community.

“I look forward to that project breaking ground,” he said.