OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — State Senate leadership rolled out their priorities for Oklahoma education in the coming weeks of the legislative session.

The legislation they’re pushing forward, some from local lawmakers, will impact every public school and student in the state.

“I want to continue to empower them, utilize local control to be unique, to work autonomously,” State Sen. Adam Pugh, (R) Edmond.

“The biggest priority for me and my biggest passion is trying to help students and help teachers,” said State Sen. Ally Seifried, (R) Claremore.

Chair of the Senate Education Committee Adam Pugh and Vice Chair Ally Seifried rolled out their list of education reform bills for the upcoming legislative session.

Both Pugh and Seifried spoke at a press conference to address the priorities of the Senate’s Education Committee and presented legislation. This is the third year in a row they have held this press conference.

Legislative committees begin examining legislation next week at the state capitol. With Seifried and Pugh being at the forefront of their committees, these bills are more likely to be heard and passed to the Senate floor.

Some of the major bills presented on Monday deal with the elimination of diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

“We are committed to ending DEI on our campuses in any form or fashion. It is time to get that stuff off our college campuses and focus on giving people skill sets so they can stay employed in the state of Oklahoma and help our state flourish,” Pugh said.

Another was Seifried’s bill for removing cell phones from the classroom.

“We know that when cell phones are in the classroom, students are distracted. Teachers are having to manage trying to make cell phones go away, trying to teach their lesson plans. A big part of going bell to bell is ensuring that the burden of implementation doesn’t fall on teachers,” Seifried said.

Together, the two also want to see the starting teacher base pay set at $50,000.

“That is the north star for the State of Oklahoma, we are thousands of teachers short in our state. We will continue to work on teacher pay because we know our neighbors and surrounding states are working on the same,” Pugh said.

Both also encouraged a bill that would move school board elections to the November general election ballot. Both senators said there is too low of a voter turnout rate at these elections to where it’s hard to properly represent the communities these school districts are in.

They believe putting it on the November ballot would more than double the normal turnout for school board elections.

“If we really want to empower our schools to utilize local control and serve their community uniquely, we have to make sure their school board elections are reflective of their communities at large,” Pugh said.

None of these are laws yet and will need to be passed by the state House and Senate before the governor’s signature is received.

Several of these bills being pushed forward are reliant on cooperation with the State Board of Education. Pugh said they want to make sure the education committee and state superintendent are communicating heads and not competing heads.

That board of education meeting is planned for Tuesday. FOX23 will be in OKC to bring you coverage of that meeting.

You can also find a full list of the over a dozen education bills filed for the upcoming legislative session here.