Budget & Tax

State budget primer: Agencies and their appropriations

February 14, 2019

Curtis Shelton

As the legislative session continues, we will also continue our budget series on facts you need to know. So far, we have defined important terms and provided past budget numbers. Here, we have facts about Oklahoma’s state agencies and their appropriations.

State Appropriations

State appropriated dollars have grown by $1.6 billion, or 27 percent, since fiscal year 1995—the earliest year available online. According to the latest available data, appropriations accounted for 39 percent of total state spending in fiscal year 2018 at $7.5 billion. This is important to remember as appropriations will be the most talked about portion of Oklahoma’s budget. It is not the whole picture, however. Oklahoma’s total state budget is in fact nearly $18 billion.

Oklahoma State Appropriations


Top 10 Appropriated Oklahoma State Agencies for Fiscal Year 2019

  1. Department of Education
  2. Health Care Authority
  3. Regents for Higher Education
  4. Department of Human Services
  5. Department of Corrections
  6. Department of Mental Health
  7. Department of Transportation
  8. Career & Technical Education
  9. Department of Public Safety
  10. Office of Juvenile Affairs

Again, it is important to note that these do not include total spending numbers. For instance, in fiscal year 2017, the state Regents for Higher Education was appropriated $810 million by the Oklahoma Legislature while its total budget was $2.7 billion.

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