The ‘teacher pay raise’ plan that wasn’t

The teacher pay raise offered this year wasn’t what it seemed.

Nearly every proposal filed at the Oklahoma Capitol, including the failed last-ditch effort by House Republicans to work a pay raise into the budget, would have only increased the state’s baseline salary for teacher pay by $1,000.

An analysis by The Oklahoman, however, shows that more than 36,500 teachers already make at least $1,000 more than the state minimum salary, according to publicly available salary data.

That means if lawmakers had adopted any bill raising the minimum salary that much, most teachers wouldn’t receive an automatic pay raise.

The Legislature adjourned Friday without hiking salaries or doling out raises.

Several educators who visited the Capitol on Tuesday had no idea they wouldn’t get an automatic raise under the most popular plan, one introduced by House Republicans.

That’s likely because in virtually every public discussion, lawmakers used the term “teacher pay raise” and didn’t make the distinction.

“I thought it was across the board,” said Pamela Ramey, a math coach in Lawton who’s taught for 35 years.

State Rep. Michael Rogers carried the House’s plan that would have raised the minimum salary by $1,000 in the first year, $2,000 a year later and $3,000 a year after that.

He acknowledged the difference on Tuesday and said the final decision to boost teachers’ paychecks would be up to the local districts.

“If school districts are currently paying above, they have that prerogative to. If they decide to not pay above moving forward, that would be disheartening, obviously,” said Rogers, R-Broken Arrow.

“As we’ve talked to the (education) community, the simplest thing we can do is move the salary schedule and hope in good faith the superintendents would continue to do what’s right and keep their policy.”

The data includes teachers who work the equivalent of a full-time job in public schools. The minimum salary figure includes fringe benefits, which are payments to a teacher’s retirement and insurance costs.

“Am I 100 percent confident that every school district will do what’s right? No,” Rogers said as he and other House lawmakers were still pressuring the Senate to adopt their proposal.

“If they do that, the bigger issue is going to be with that superintendent and that school district. That’s where the teachers beef really needs to lay.”

State Sen. David Holt introduced a different kind of teacher raise bill this year. His legislation would have given local districts $10,000 over the next four years to give directly to each teacher.

“If you just raise the minimum salary, some districts that are already paying above the minimum could not give their teachers a raise,” Holt said Friday.

He said the other lawmakers weren’t being malicious with their proposals.

“I would have voted for anything,” said Holt, R-Oklahoma City. “The real story is we were never able to get the revenues we needed to fill the budget hole, much less get a teacher pay raise.”

Ramey, the teacher from Lawton, said she’s angry about it.

A teacher anywhere in the state with that much experience probably makes well above the minimum salary; local pay scales usually only set the minimum salary for teachers with 25 to 35 years of experience.

“It’s like a snow job, because no one’s ever discussed it this way,” she said.

“They always made it sound like everyone would receive $1,000. I’m really disappointed and hurt.”