HB 1946 Oklahoma House · 2026 Regular Session

Schools; teacher contracts; contracts less than one year prohibited; effective date; emergency.

HB 1946 prohibits Oklahoma school districts from offering teaching contracts shorter than one school year to certified teachers, except when a teacher is hired after the school year has begun. This applies to all standard teaching positions requiring state certification, ensuring minimum annual employment terms. The law prevents districts from using short-term contracts to avoid long-term obligations, requiring contracts to cover the full school year unless hired mid-year. Exceptions only apply if a teacher is hired after the school year starts, in which case the contract extends to the end of that school year.

Issues: ✓ Education

Bill status died 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 3, 2025 Last action Feb 5, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Proposed Policy Committee Substitute 1 · 4 edits

MODERATE

The bill was amended by the Policy Committee to replace the entire text of the original measure with a revised version that clarifies contract requirements for teachers, specifically addressing contract duration, hiring timelines, and conditions for continuing contracts. The changes standardize contract language and update references to align with current legislative session formatting.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains focused on teacher contracts in Oklahoma schools, but the substantive text was completely rewritten to clarify requirements and update formatting.

REQUIREMENT

Contract language was rewritten to clarify that written contracts must cover the full school year unless exceptions apply, and to specify that contracts entered after the school year begins must extend through the end of that year.

Section references were updated to correct subsection designations (e.g., 'J K' instead of 'J K of this section') and ensure consistency throughout the text.

TIMELINE

Contract negotiation timelines were clarified with specific references to the first Monday in June and 15-day notification periods for continuing contract status.

TECHNICAL

Formatting was updated to conform to the proposed policy committee substitute format, including page numbering and amendment tracking information.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Common Education

lower

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Referred to Education Oversight

lower

Feb 3, 2025

Introduced

First Reading

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors