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| - Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt did tell a reporter he was "thinking about" making it a requirement that high school students have an acceptance offer for a college, trade school or the military in order to graduate.
However, a spokesperson for Stitt later clarified his comments by saying it was "an idea he threw out there" and that the governor's office has no plans to make it mandatory for high school students to have a college, trade school or military offer in order to graduate. The proposal is not currently a part of Oklahoma law.
In late December 2024, social media users shared a rumor that Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt had announced a new program that would require the state's high school students to have an acceptance offer for a college, trade school or the military in order to graduate.
One X post (which has since been removed but had amassed nearly 340,000 views at the time of being archived) featuring the claim read:
BREAKING: Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announces a program that would require High School students to do 1 of 3 things to graduate.
- Get accepted into a college.
- Get accepted into a trade school.
- if the student can't do either college or trade school, they must join the army to graduate.
Other examples of the rumor appeared on Reddit (archived) and TikTok (archived), the latter of which had amassed more than 434,000 likes as of this writing.
The TikTok post was amplified by MSNBC correspondent Joy Ann Reid, whose Instagram post (archived) featuring the same video had garnered more than 28,000 likes at the time of this writing.
In short, Stitt did make such comments during an interview; however, his spokesperson later clarified that this was just an idea and that there were no plans to only allow high school students to graduate if they had an acceptance offer for a college, trade school or the military. Therefore, we have rated this claim as a mixture of true and false information.
Origins of the Claim
The rumor originated from a report by the Fox-affiliated Oklahoma news station KOKH-TV, also known as KOKH Fox 25, which said that during an interview with the governor, the Republican politician told the outlet that he was considering introducing a requirement for high school students to have an acceptance offer for a college, trade school or the military in order to graduate.
KOKH-TV's interview with Stitt focused on his "Classroom to Careers" initiative, which the governor posted about on X in late December 2024.
However, Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt's office, said the governor simply intended to say that he wanted to ensure kids have a plan after graduating from high school.
"No, [the governor] was not saying that it's mandatory a kid goes to trade school, or that a kid goes to college," Cave said in a phone interview with Snopes. "I want to be very clear: We are not mandating military service for Oklahoma students."
Cave posted a similar statement on her X account.
To clarify - Gov. Stitt is not suggesting that we mandate military service. He wants to see that every kid graduating from high school has a plan, whether that be college, career tech, military service, or workforce.
Don't believe everything you see on the internet folks. https://t.co/5jUqffOGx3
— Abegail Cave (@abegailcave) December 31, 2024
Footage of Stitt's interview, which is available on Fox 25 News reporter David Chasanov's YouTube page, shows the politician saying:
I'm always talking about classrooms to careers. I want every kid ready for a career, and so I'm thinking about even making it a requirement to graduate from Oklahoma high schools. You've got to either be accepted to college, or you have to be accepted into a career tech or you have to be going into the army. You have to have some kind of plan post-graduation to go get a great job.
But Cave said Stitt's office does not currently plan to introduce postsecondary acceptance into college, career tech or the military as part of the state's graduation requirements.
"[The governor] just wants to make sure kids have a pathway. It was an idea he threw out there in discussion with a reporter," Cave said, adding that people may also be conflating Stitt's comments with the state's recent efforts to update graduation requirements.
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