Oklahoma § 70-26

§ 70-26.

Repealed by Laws 1949, p. 607, art. 20, § 9.

§70-26-101. Short title.

Sections 26-101 through 26-105 of this title shall be known and

may be cited as the "Larry Dickerson Education Flexible Benefits

Allowance Act".

Added by Laws 1998, c. 380, § 3, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998. Amended

by Laws 2002, c. 282, § 1, eff. July 1, 2002.

§70-26-102. Purpose.

It is hereby declared that the purpose of the Larry Dickerson

Education Flexible Benefits Allowance Act is:

1. To recognize that the employee benefit needs of individual

school district employees differ, depending on the age, salary and

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

family status of the employee, and that it is needful to permit such

employees to select and tailor the benefits they receive in a manner

calculated to best meet the particular needs of themselves and their

families; and

2. To furnish school district employees with choices among

various employee benefits or cash compensation.

Added by Laws 1998, c. 380, § 4, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998. Amended

by Laws 2002, c. 282, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002.

§70-26-103. Definitions.

The following words and phrases as used in Section 26-101 et

seq. of this title, unless a different meaning is clearly required

by the context, shall have the following meanings:

1. "Benefit" means any of the benefits which may be purchased

or are required to be purchased under the cafeteria plan;

2. "Cafeteria plan" means a benefit plan established pursuant

to 26 U.S.C. Section 125;

3. "Flexible benefit allowance" means amounts credited by the

school district for each school district employee for the purchase

of benefits under the cafeteria plan;

4. "Support personnel" means full-time employees of a school

district as determined by the standard period of labor which is

customarily understood to constitute full-time employment for the

type of services performed by the employees who are employed a

minimum of six (6) hours per day for a minimum of one hundred

seventy-two (172) days or a minimum of six (6) hours per day for a

minimum of one thousand thirty-two (1,032) hours per year and who

provide services not performed by certified personnel, which is

necessary for the efficient and satisfactory functioning of a school

district, and shall include cooks, janitors, maintenance personnel,

bus drivers, noncertified or nonregistered nurses, noncertified

librarians, and clerical employees of a school district but shall

not include adult education instructors or adult coordinators

employed by technology center school districts;

5. "Plan year" means the twelve-month period established by the

school district for the cafeteria plan;

6. "School district" means the public school districts and

technology center school districts of this state;

7. "School district employee" means certified or support

personnel as defined in Section 26-101 et seq. of this title.

Employees of an educational service provider contracted with a

school district pursuant to subsection G of Section 5-117 of this

title who perform functions that would otherwise be performed by a

school district employee shall be considered employees of a school

district for purposes of the Larry Dickerson Education Flexible

Benefits Allowance Act unless otherwise provided for in the contract

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

between the educational service provider and the contracting school

district;

8. "Certified personnel" means a certified person employed on a

full-time basis to serve as a teacher, principal, supervisor,

administrator, counselor, librarian, or certified or registered

nurse, but shall not mean a superintendent of a school district; and

9. "Self-insured" means a health care program in which the

school district funds the benefit plans from its own resources

without purchasing insurance and which may be administered by the

school district or by an outside administrator under contract with

the school district for administrative services. The State Board of

Education shall prepare by May 1st of each year a list of each

school district in the state that is self-insured and the number of

support personnel and the number of certified personnel that are

participating in each self-insured school district plan.

Added by Laws 1998, c. 380, § 5, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998. Amended

by Laws 1999, c. 334, § 1, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2001, c. 33, §

121, eff. July 1, 2001; Laws 2012, c. 320, § 1, eff. July 1, 2012;

Laws 2018, c. 309, § 1, eff. July 1, 2018.

§70-26-104. Funding of flexible benefit allowances – Establishment

of cafeteria plans.

A. Each fiscal year, the Legislature shall appropriate adequate

funding to the State Board of Education and the State Board of

Career and Technology Education for the purpose of providing a

flexible benefit allowance to school district employees pursuant to

this act. Unless the Legislature appropriates adequate funding

specifically for the purpose of providing a flexible benefit

allowance to school district employees, the Oklahoma State Board of

Education shall allocate from the funds appropriated to the Oklahoma

State Board of Education for the support of public school activities

an amount to fully fund the flexible benefit allowance, which shall

occur first prior to allocating the funds for any other purpose.

The amount appropriated for funding and disbursed to school

districts shall be calculated by multiplying the number of eligible

school district employees employed by school districts which are

participating in the health insurance plan offered by the Oklahoma

Employees Insurance and Benefits Board or are self-insured as

counted in February of each year by the amount of the flexible

benefit allowance credited to the eligible school employees as

established in Section 26-105 of this title. Each Board shall

disburse the total amount appropriated for funding the flexible

benefit allowance to school districts during the fiscal year. From

the total amount appropriated, each Board shall disburse the

appropriate amounts, based on the number of eligible school district

employees employed by that school district, to each school district.

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

B. Every school district shall establish or make available to

school district employees a cafeteria plan pursuant to 26 U.S.C.

Section 125 of the United States Code. The plan shall offer, as a

benefit, major medical health care plan coverage.

C. The flexible benefit allowance amount established pursuant

to Section 26-105 of this title shall be credited to each eligible

school district employee. School district employees shall elect

whether to use the flexible benefit allowance to pay for coverage in

the health insurance plan offered by the Oklahoma Employees

Insurance and Benefits Board or the self-insured plan offered by the

school district and may receive the excess flexible benefit

allowance as taxable compensation as provided in Section 26-105 of

this title.

D. The administrator of the cafeteria plan shall maintain a

separate account for each participating school district employee.

School districts shall forward the school district employee flexible

benefit allowance amounts to the administrator for elected purchases

of cafeteria plan benefits.

E. Expenses included in an employee's salary adjustment

agreement pursuant to the cafeteria plan shall be limited to

expenses for:

1. Premiums for any health insurance, health maintenance

organization, life insurance, long term disability insurance, dental

insurance or high deductible health benefit plan offered to

employees and their dependents; and

2. All other eligible benefit programs offered under 26 U.S.C.

Section 125 of the United States Code.

F. The flexible benefit allowance amount established in Section

26-105 of this title shall not be included as income in computation

of state retirement contributions and benefits or as part of the

Minimum Salary Schedule for teachers established in Section 18114.12 of this title. School districts shall not consider the

flexible benefit allowance amount as income for eligible support

employees and thereby shall not reduce the salary of an eligible

support employee.

Added by Laws 1998, c. 380, § 6, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998. Amended

by Laws 1999, c. 334, § 2, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2001, c. 33, §

122, eff. July 1, 2001; Laws 2002, c. 418, § 1, eff. July 1, 2002;

Laws 2007, c. 180, § 1, emerg. eff. May 31, 2007; Laws 2012, c. 321,

§ 1, eff. July 1, 2012; Laws 2024, c. 245, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2024.

§70-26-105. Purchase of benefits - Amount of allowance - Taxable

compensation - Superintendent allowance.

A. The flexible benefit allowance shall be used by a school

district employee who is participating in the cafeteria plan to

purchase major medical health care plan coverage offered by the

school district through a cafeteria plan. Any excess flexible

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

benefit allowance over the cost of the major medical coverage

purchased by the employee who is participating in the cafeteria plan

may be used to purchase any of the additional benefits offered by

the school district or may be taken as taxable compensation as

provided in subsection C of this section. Certified personnel who

choose not to participate in the school-district-sponsored cafeteria

plan shall receive Sixty-nine Dollars and seventy-one cents ($69.71)

per month as taxable compensation in lieu of the flexible benefit

allowance amount provided in subsection B of this section. Support

personnel who choose not to participate in the school-districtsponsored cafeteria plan shall receive One Hundred Eighty-nine

Dollars and sixty-nine cents ($189.69) per month as taxable

compensation in lieu of the flexible benefit allowance amount

provided in subsection B of this section.

B. Each eligible school district employee shall be credited

annually with a specified amount as a flexible benefit allowance

which shall be available for the purchase of benefits. The amount

of the flexible benefit allowance credited to each eligible school

district employee shall be communicated to the employee prior to the

enrollment period for each plan year.

1. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible

benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less

than Sixty-nine Dollars and seventy-one cents ($69.71) per month.

For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2002, the flexible benefit

allowance amount for support personnel shall be no less than One

Hundred Eighty-nine Dollars and sixty-nine cents ($189.69) per

month.

2. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, the flexible

benefit allowance amount for certified personnel shall be no less

than fifty-eight percent (58%) of the premium amount for the

HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the

Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board. For the fiscal

year ending June 30, 2003, and each fiscal year thereafter, the

flexible benefit allowance amount for support personnel shall be no

less than one hundred percent (100%) of the premium amount for the

HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an individual offered by the

Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits Board.

3. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, and each fiscal

year thereafter, the flexible benefit allowance amount for certified

personnel shall be no less than one hundred percent (100%) of the

premium amount for the HealthChoice (Hi) option plan for an

individual offered by the Oklahoma Employees Insurance and Benefits

Board.

C. If a school district employee who is participating in the

cafeteria plan elects benefits whose sum total is less than the

flexible benefit allowance, the employee shall receive any excess

flexible benefit allowance as taxable compensation. Such taxable

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

compensation shall be paid in substantially equal amounts each pay

period over the plan year. Except as otherwise provided for in

subsection D of this section, on termination during a plan year, a

participating school district employee shall have no right to

receive any taxable cash compensation allocated to the portion of

the plan year after the termination of the employee.

D. In cases where the employee of a school district fulfills

the terms of their contract and terminates employment for the

subsequent year, the employee shall be entitled to the flexible

benefit allowance for the remainder of the current benefit term.

For purposes of this subsection, "benefit term" shall mean the

twelve-month period after the initiation of benefits for the

position held by the employee.

E. Each school district employee shall make an annual election

of benefits under the plan during an enrollment period to be held

prior to the beginning of each plan year. The enrollment period

dates will be determined annually and will be announced by the

school district, providing the enrollment period shall end no later

than thirty (30) days before the beginning of the plan year. Each

school district employee shall make an irrevocable advance election

for the plan year or the remainder of the plan year pursuant to

procedures the school district shall prescribe.

F. The school district shall prescribe the forms that school

district employees shall be required to use in making their

elections, and may prescribe deadlines and other procedures for

filing the elections.

G. School district employees hired after the closing of the

enrollment period shall be allowed to make an election as provided

in this act.

H. A district board of education shall have the option of

providing a flexible benefit allowance to the superintendent of the

school district in an amount not more than the amount of the

flexible benefit allowance established for certified personnel in

subsection B of this section. Funding for the flexible benefit

allowance for a superintendent shall be provided through local

revenue.

Added by Laws 1998, c. 380, § 7, emerg. eff. June 9, 1998. Amended

by Laws 1999, c. 334, § 3, eff. July 1, 1999; Laws 2000, c. 308, §

5, eff. July 1, 2000; Laws 2001, c. 416, § 45, eff. July 1, 2001;

Laws 2002, c. 282, § 3, eff. July 1, 2002; Laws 2003, c. 415, § 32,

eff. July 1, 2003; Laws 2004, c. 119, § 2, eff. July 1, 2004; Laws

2007, c. 180, § 2, emerg. eff. May 31, 2007; Laws 2024, c. 245, § 3,

eff. Nov. 1, 2024.

§70-26-105.1. School districts to which act applies.

The provisions of the Larry Dickerson Flexible Benefits

Allowance Act shall apply to school districts participating in the

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools

Oklahoma State Education and Employees Group Insurance Board plan or

school districts that are self-insured.

Added by Laws 2002, c. 418, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002.

§70-26-106.

Repealed by Laws 1999, c. 334, § 6, eff. July 1, 1999.

§70-26-107.

Repealed by Laws 1999, c. 334, § 6, eff. July 1, 1999.

§70-26-108.

Repealed by Laws 2000, c. 308, § 8, eff. July 1, 2000.