The Appropriations Subcommittee approved FY26 budget recommendations for multiple education-related agencies and forwarded each to the full Appropriations Committee by voice vote.

Approved recommendations included a $1,034,246,221 FY26 appropriation recommendation for the Oklahoma State Regents/regions for higher education; a $169,487,874 recommendation for the Department of Career and Technology Education (CareerTech); a $20,110,919 recommendation for the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST); and increases or full recommendations for the Commissioners of the Land Office, the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, the Department of Libraries, the Health Care Workforce Training Commission, the Oklahoma Arts Council, OETA (Oklahoma Educational Television Authority), the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability (OEQA), the Board of Private Vocational Schools, and the Statewide Charter School Board.

Committee presenters provided brief descriptions of each agency's request and the chair read the subcommittee's recommended funding packages. Many items were approved with little or no discussion. The chair and presenters repeatedly noted that several agency requests included a mix of recurring and one-time funds and that previously appropriated one-time funding was being removed from baseline figures, which can make year-to-year comparisons look like decreases even when recurring lines increase.

Several specifics recorded in the transcript included:
- Regents/regions for higher education: recommendation of $1,034,246,221; discussion of concurrent enrollment expansion, cybersecurity and campus safety initiatives, micro-credentialing related to the science-of-reading work, and a deferred-maintenance request that the chair tabled pending a more detailed list from the regents. The chair said he would coordinate with the Appropriations chairman on legislation related to deferred maintenance before adding new dollars.
- CareerTech: recommendation to fully fund statutory FBA at $1,300,000 recurring and $450,000 for incarcerated-individual career training transition services, for a total recommendation of $169,487,874. Presenters said CareerTech has a roughly 6,000-student wait list and prior one-time funding was front-loaded and then spread over a four-year period.
- OCAST: the committee recommended $20,110,919 total, including a recurring STEM intern program increase of $1,000,000 and one-time funds to address capital access gaps.
- Commissioners of the Land Office: recommendation to increase expenditure authority by $1,675,855 to a total appropriation of $8,379,276; presenters emphasized this is authorization to expend non-general-revenue trust/corpus funds within a statutory percentage rather than a general-revenue transfer.
- Health Care Workforce Training Commission: recommendation to add $86,225 for rent/build-out and residency-assistance salary increases for resident physicians/students, totaling $10,497,939.
- Oklahoma Arts Council: recommendation included recurring costs tied to moving back into the Jim Thorpe Building (rent charged by OMES) and a $405,000 one-time collections-equipment package, for a total recommendation of $4,412,346.
- OETA: a staff payment adjustment recommendation of $434,000 (not fully funded to the full requested amount) for a total FY26 appropriation of $3,388,004.
- OEQA: recommended a new data scientist position and increased attorney fees, for a total appropriation of $2,163,209.
- Board of Private Vocational Schools: recommended reduction back to its 2023 funding level, $250,000.
- Statewide Charter School Board: requested a flat budget; the subcommittee adopted the request as presented.

Each agency recommendation was forwarded to the full Appropriations Committee by voice vote; presenters and the chair recorded "aye" and the chair declared the recommendations passed. Two supplemental requests were also forwarded: a roughly $22 million supplemental to reconcile prior-year flex benefits for the State Department of Education, and a $40,000 supplemental to the Health Care Workforce Training Commission to cover moving and configuration costs charged by OMES.

The chair told members the subcommittee will reconvene with the full Appropriations Committee at 1:30 p.m. to present these recommendations to the larger body.