Okla. Stat. tit. 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Repealed by Laws 1949, p. 607, art. 20, § 9.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 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 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. 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 18- 114.12 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 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-district- sponsored 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 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 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.