Higher education; creating the Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment Academy; providing eligibility. Effective date. Emergency.

SB 7 creates the Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment Academy, which provides tuition and mandatory fee assistance for students pursuing bachelor's degrees in approved teacher preparation programs. To qualify, students must enroll in Oklahoma's public higher education system, agree to teach in a critical shortage subject area (identified annually by the State Department of Education), and commit to teach one school year for each academic year of assistance received. The program covers tuition/fees up to $10 million annually, prioritizes students who exhaust other financial aid first, and requires repayment if participants fail to teach in qualifying roles. This directly affects Oklahoma students in teacher preparation programs and public schools facing staffing shortages in identified critical subject areas.