Lawmakers have gotten the message on teacher pay

THE resounding defeat in November of State Question 779 made it clear that voters wanted the Legislature to figure out a way to increase pay for public school teachers, instead of relying on a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax as SQ 779 proposed. Lawmakers got the message.

In recent days, a number of proposals have been offered to boost teacher pay, and another seeks to funnel some money away from the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and give it to schools to promote health and qualify-of-life initiatives. These follow a teacher pay plan unveiled earlier in January that has the backing of new House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

Members of the Republican House caucus have told him that by far, the No. 1 topic of concern among their constituents is teacher pay, McCall said recently. He likes a plan by Rep. Michael Rogers, R-Broken Arrow, who is chairman of the House Common Education Committee.

Rogers’ bill calls for $6,000 raises phased in over three years — $1,000 next year, followed by raises of $2,000 the following year and then $3,000 the year after that. Still to be determined is how those would be funded.

From the other side of the Capitol, freshman Sen. Michael Bergstrom, R-Adair, has proposed legislation he says would raise salaries by $5,000 during the next three years. He would like to pay for some of that by capping at $25 million per year the tax credit used for wind energy production.

The boldest plan offered thus far is Sen. David Holt’s plan to provide $10,000 raises to all public school teachers over the next four years ($1,000 this fall, $3,000 in each of the following three years). Holt, R-Oklahoma City, noted that he attended public schools, his children do the same, and his father was a teacher. “There are so many things Oklahoma needs to do, but none are as important as this,” he said.

Holt said his pay raise plan is estimated to cost $550 million. To cover that, he filed a dozen bills that he said would generate $744 million. He also proposes an income tax exemption for teachers that would provide a raise equivalent to $1,850, on average. Among his suggestions for raising revenue: Once the economy rebounds, take the first $200 million in new revenue growth and dedicate it toward pay raises.

Remove the exemption that lets state and local governments abstain from paying sales tax on purchases (estimated annual revenue: $238 million).

Repeal the state sales tax exemption on repair, maintenance, delivery and installation of taxable goods ($59 million). This bill could be expanded to include services that many other states tax, such as construction services, utilities, landscaping, diaper service and carpet cleaning, thus generating an estimated $261 million annually.

Eventually reduce the number of superintendents to 200, from the present 500-plus, saving about $50 million annually.

These pay raise plans and others — the governor is expected to offer one of her own — will generate plenty of heated debate, as will the TSET-related proposal by Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore. Our hope is that additional education reform measures will become part of this conversation, too. What’s evident, however, is that voter rejection of SQ 779 assured that this issue would not remain on high center again in 2017.