Education Oversight Committee gives unanimous do-pass recommendations to two bills, including phone-free schools measure

The Education Oversight Committee, meeting for the first time, voted unanimously to give do-pass recommendations to two bills on its agenda: House Bill 2287, which committee members said would update how per-pupil expenditures are calculated, and House Bill 1276, which would set a phone-free standard for Oklahoma schools.

Speaker Hilbert, who explained HB 2287 to the committee, described the measure as "just legislation to make sure we're having an accurate per people expenditure number," and moved adoption before yielding to questions. The committee recorded no requests for debate and closed the vote with a 9-0 tally in favor.

Vice Chairman Chad Caldwell explained HB 1276, telling members that the bill "would set the standard for Oklahoma schools to be phone free." Again, members raised no questions or debate on the measure; the committee recorded a 9-0 vote to send the bill forward with a do-pass recommendation.

Committee minutes show Hassenbeck, Curbs and Hilbert among those recorded voting "aye." The committee chair indicated these were the only two bills on the Education Oversight Committee agenda at this meeting.

The votes were procedural recommendations from the committee; the transcript does not record any amendments, further assignments to subcommittees, or additional implementation details for either bill. The committee did not specify a subsequent committee referral or calendar date in the recorded discussion.

Members and staff will carry the committee's recommendations forward according to the Legislature's normal process for committee-recommended bills.