Hofmeister says survey shows need for teacher pay increase
Armed with the results of a survey she said affirmed the need to increase teacher pay, state schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister announced her department’s proposed budget will include $289 million for a statewide $5,000 salary increase.
On Monday, Hofmeister unveiled the results of a state Department of Education survey that asked former Oklahoma teachers why they left the profession or the state.
Low pay was the biggest reason given, but challenges with classroom management and increasing curriculum standards were also cited by former teachers.
“Pay alone won’t solve the teacher shortage,” Hofmeister said. “But we are not in the ballgame in any way if we are not offering our teachers competitive pay.”
Oklahoma school leaders have said hiring and retaining teachers has become harder
over the last several years with some openings being filled with an emergency certified teacher.
With an average salary near the bottom nationally, teachers have long said educator pay needs to increase.
But education officials said the survey results confirmed that narrative.
“We finally have hard data that tells us what is driving the teacher shortage,” said Brent Bushey, executive director of the Oklahoma Public Schools Resource Center, an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit that funded the survey.
The survey included responses from nearly 5,500 persons who hold a state teaching certificate but are not currently working in an Oklahoma public school.
Thirty-one percent of respondents said a pay increase would get them to return to the classroom.
“If we could get those 31 percent back in the classroom we are talking about thousands,” Hofmeister said.
While teachers of all ages said pay was an important factor, it was a larger factor for younger teachers.
The older the respondent, the more important classroom environment became, according to the survey.
The survey, which was conducted by Cole Hargrave Snodgrass and Associates, was an idea that came out of the state’s teacher shortage task force.
Many states claim to be experiencing a teacher shortage, but local education leaders believe it is especially severe in Oklahoma, where there are currently more than 1,800 emergency certified teachers in classrooms across the state.
State lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have advocated for a teacher pay raise, but the Legislature has been unable to agree on a way to fund it.
Gov. Mary Fallin said this month she would veto another budget proposal that lacked a teacher pay raise.
Hofmeister said a $5,000 pay raise would bring Oklahoma closer to the regional average.
“We are looking at the regionally competitive figure and this is where I think we must first begin the conversation,” Hofmeister said.
Hofmeister had included a $1,000 pay raise in a previous budget that was meant to be the first step in an eventual $5,000 raise. That request was not accepted by the state Legislature, nor was last year’s $5,000 pay raise request, which was proposed as a supplement to the budget.
This year, Hofmeister said she will include a $5,000 raise within the Department of Education budget.
With an improving budget situation and continued talk in the state Legislature about the need for a teacher pay raise, Hofmeister said she is hopeful her budget will be approved.
“It is the constitutional responsibility of the Legislature to maintain public education and we can’t do that without teachers,” Hofmeister said. “What this boils down to is respect (for teachers). A part of showing respect is to do the right thing, which is to offer competitive teacher compensation.”
Many states claim to be experiencing a teacher shortage, but local education leaders believe it is especially severe in Oklahoma, where there are currently more than 1,800 emergency certified teachers in classrooms across the state.