Teachers from Tulsa lobby for pay raise
Tulsa World barbara.hoberock @tulsaworld.com
Teachers from Tulsa and other districts on Tuesday lobbied lawmakers at the Capitol.
They are seeking increased funding for schools and a $10,000 teacher pay raise phased in over three years.
Teachers have said they will walk out of class on April 2 if the funding isn’t approved.
“We are lobbying our legislators to pass a revenue plan so we don’t have to walk out,” said Shawna Mott-Wright, Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association vice president. “We don’t want to walk out. That is not the goal. It is a tactic to get the goal.”
She said lawmakers need to “muster up some courage and represent their constituents.”
So far, lawmakers have floated three plans to give raises ranging from about $2,000 to $5,000.
“I think it is insulting,” she said when asked about the varying plans. “We have told them what we need. And that we can’t take any less.”
She said lawmakers from both parties are talking about what they are willing and not willing to accept.
“Why are we wrong for doing the same thing?” she said. “Our special interests are the children of Oklahoma.”
Mott came to the Capitol with 10 teachers and four children.
Locust Grove Public Schools librarian Sabrina Shepperd came with 19 people.
She said teachers do not want to walk out on April 2. She came to appeal to lawmakers to see what can be done to get them to a yes on a funding package.
She was asked about remarks by some lawmakers that $10,000 is not realistic.
She said lawmakers for years have failed to provide resources for raises for teachers.
She said what is unrealistic is for lawmakers to think that is acceptable.
“They want to know if there is a plan to pay teachers and I am telling them that I wish there were a plan,” said Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa. “We have put forth a number of plans. I have voted for a number of plans. We are hearing nothing on our side about a plan that is going to be hitting the floor that we can vote on.”
She said the general demeanor among the teachers present Tuesday is anger.
“And frankly, they don’t understand why we are not in session doing something,” she said.
Rep. Ross Ford, R-Tulsa, is a former Union school board member and served as the district’s director of security. He said he understands what “dire straits” schools are in.
He said it will be hard to accomplish revenue-raising measures that require a super majority, so lawmakers are looking at measures that only require 51 votes.
He has had teachers in his office Monday and Tuesday.
“They just want to be heard,” he said. Tulsa World andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com
BARTLESVILLE — Lawmakers have responded to Bartlesville Public Schools’ proposal for how to pay for teacher pay raises.
Dubbed “The Time is NOW,” the Bartlesville plan would have the state raise some of the same taxes previously considered by the Oklahoma Legislature in an effort to capture $700 million in new state revenues for Fiscal Year 2019. It was reportedly devised with help from Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, and a group of Bartlesville school district administrators and board members who meet regularly.
School leaders asked for detailed responses to the plan from that city’s legislative delegation and even Sears’ response wasn’t encouraging.
“I appreciate the Bartlesville Board of Education developing a plan for the legislature to consider. We, as elected officials, must address this critical budget issue for teachers and state programs our citizens utilize,” Sears wrote. “The Bartlesville ‘The Time Is Now Plan’ has many components that have been before the members this Session. Unfortunately, all of the plans have failed.”
The proposal is designed to produce revenue for $6,000 teacher raises, totaling $366 million, with $115 million to restore state aid funding for public schools and another $219 million for other core services in the state budget.
In the proposal has a gross production tax increase to 5 percent for three years and 7 percent afterward, a $1 per pack cigarette tax increase, and motor fuel tax increases of 3 cents for gasoline and 6 cents for diesel fuel. It also calls for a $1 per megawatt hour renewables tax, $5 per room lodging tax and allowing Indian casinos to use balls and dice in craps and roulette games to increase state exclusivity fees.
Sears wrote to Bartlesville that he would endorse a proposal to raise $543 million for $5,000 teacher raises, with a gross production tax increase of 4 percent.
Rep. Travis Dunlap, R-Bartlesville, praised the local school district for its many efforts to cut administrative costs, outsource services and maintain teacher pay above the state’s minimum requirements.
“The fact that they have come up with their proposal, ‘The Time is Now,’ is another testament to their resourcefulness and passion,” he said.
Still, he does not support the proposal being put to the Legislature and took it to task for calling for an expansion of ball and dice gambling, which Dunlap said, “will hurt families and exacerbate societal ills. I will not support that effort in any way.”
Further, hesaid, “I do not recommend an attempt to use the 75 percent super majority requirement to pass tax increases in the legislature. A vote of the people could raise some of the taxes in ‘The Time is Now’ Proposal. I recommend that these proposals be separated and considered individually if put on the ballot. I will support putting these proposals to a vote of the people.”