Oklahoma wants to pay some teachers six figures
But how would the raise program work?
Promoted as a chance to give teachers six-figure salaries, a proposal to reward certain Oklahoma educators with higher pay has attracted support and doubts.
Proponents of the legislation say it could help retain highly qualified educators by matching funds from local school districts to increase salaries for highperforming teachers.
Others say a pay raise for all publicschool teachers would be a more effective way to fight the shortage. Some asked whether the proposed funding source — profits from the Oklahoma Lottery — is too volatile for a fund that requires consistent support.
House Bill 4387 outlines three levels of certification — advanced, lead and master teacher — that would prompt a pay raise for participating educators. Districts would decide what criteria to use to award certificates.
An accompanying bill, HB 4388, would dedicate lottery profits to support salary increases.
The package of bills are the latest to focus on school compensation as Oklahoma continues to grapple with a yearslong educator shortage and a recordhigh number of new emergency certified teachers.
“I think the potential here is big to address a lot of problems,” said Rep. Kyle Hilbert.
Hilbert, R-Bristow, is the principal author of the bills that would engineer the pay increases.
Would teachers really make $100,000?
Gov. Kevin Stitt pitched the idea in his State of the State speech as a way to give Oklahoma’s best teachers six-figure salaries while keeping them in the classroom. Stitt said this could deter teachers from seeking higher-paying positions in school administration.
Such a dramatic raise would fall on the extreme end of the proposed pay structure.
An advanced certificate would raise a teacher’s salary by at least $3,000. These educators must spend at least 10% of their time outside of the classroom as instructional leaders and mentors to other teachers.
A lead teacher would earn $5,000 more at a minimum and must spend 25% of the time out of the classroom. Master teachers would spend at least 50% of their time out of the classroom and earn between $10,000 and $40,000 more.
Certificates would be worth even more money in districts with fewer than 1,000 students or in Title I schools, which are designated by a prevalence of students living in poverty. Teachers in those schools would earn an extra $1,500, $2,500 or $5,000 on top of the defined salary increases.
Oklahoma’s teacher salary schedule sets pay between $36,600 and $54,300 at a minimum, based on years of experience and college degrees. That means an educator would have to be among the highest-earning master teachers to reach six figures.
Democrats question the program’s efficacy
HB 4388, which sets the lottery commission as the source of matching funds, passed 12-2 on Monday in a House subcommittee on education funding. It will advance next to the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee.
Democratic lawmakers questioned the mechanics of the program in the subcommittee hearing.
Rep. Melissa Provenzano, D-Tulsa, noted school budgets are limited and the bill doesn’t offer to help districts come up with their half of the pay raise. It offers state dollars only if schools can find the money to match.
Both Gov. Kevin Stitt and key writers of the state budget have proposed keeping funding flat for education this year, indicating no extra dollars would be available for public schools.
The state allocation for education reached a record $3.2 billion in 2021, but Oklahoma’s per-pupil funding, a crucial factor for public-school budgets, is still lower than in all surrounding states.
“There’s no one in this room that doesn’t want to pay teachers more,” said Provenzano, who voted in favor of the bill. “For per-pupil expenditures, we’re still not even at the middle of the pack. We’re still in last place.”
Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, contended lottery commission profits could be too little and too inconsistent to be the sole source of funding for teacher pay raises.
“We need a solid, stable funding source for what we’re going to do if we really want to pay our teachers what they deserve,” Fugate said.
Where would the money come from?
Lawmakers could consider drawing from other wells if lottery revenues aren’t stable enough, Hilbert said.
But the Oklahoma Lottery Commission expects funding to remain consistent.
The Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust Fund already supports state funding of public schools, college scholarships, school buildings and other educational needs.
The state would pay for teacher raises only when the education lottery fund exceeds $60 million. Any profits above $60 million would go into a Teacher Empowerment Fund to support salary bumps for advanced, lead and master teachers.
The education lottery trust fund has fallen below $60 million only once since 2006.
The lone year when the fund failed to reach that benchmark was 2017, when the education trust fund collected only $53 million.
Customer spending was on a downturn at that time and would have worsened if the lottery system didn’t modernize, said Jay Finks, executive director of the Oklahoma Lottery Commission.
Since 2017, the state Legislature gradually approved changes to sell lottery products at higher price points and allowed customers to buy with credit and debit cards. The lottery commission has added more gas stations and self-service machines to sell tickets.
Profit margins have improved as a result, Finks said.
The education trust fund saw a dramatic increase to $80 million in 2021, good for $20 million in excess that could go toward teacher pay raises. HB 4388 would dedicate that $20 million as the first deposit in the program.
Finks projected the education trust fund will reach at least $80 million again this year.
“The questions that I’ve seen in the past couple days are, ‘Is it a fluke? Can they keep funding this at this level?’” Finks said. “Right now, from a lottery standpoint we’re confident that we can not only keep making these numbers but grow these numbers.”
Oklahoma teacher pay by the numbers
Oklahoma’s largest teacher union is supportive of the measure, but President Katherine Bishop said it’s only “one sliver” of what’s needed to resolve the teacher shortage.
“What we have to do is make an investment,” Bishop said. “We have started that journey, but it needs to be continuous.”
Public schools reported nearly 600 teacher vacancies in 2019, according to the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. The state awarded a record number of emergency teaching certificates — 3,616 — for this school year.
Oklahoma lawmakers last approved teacher pay raises in 2018 and 2019, with an average increase of $6,100 and $1,220 respectively. The Legislature also boosted overall funding of public schools, allowing districts to use the extra funds for teacher compensation if they chose.
Teachers in the state earn $54,256 on average, putting Oklahoma ahead of Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas but behind New Mexico, Texas and Colorado, according to the OSSBA.
A significant statewide raise for all teachers would keep Oklahoma more competitive with other states, said Rick Cobb, superintendent of Midwest CityDel City Public Schools.
Just this month, New Mexico approved raises of $10,000 for its teachers and set their minimum salary at $50,000.
“We can pick around the edges at bonuses and incentive pay,” Cobb said. “But, we have neighboring states that are ponying up huge raises.”
Some Oklahoma schools adopted merit-pay measures on their own.
The superintendent of Atoka Public Schools, Jay McAdams, said he uses an incentivized structure to keep teachers in the small southeast Oklahoma school district. McAdams spoke with lawmakers during an October interim study exploring merit-based teacher salaries.
Atoka designates 12-15% of its instructional staff as lead teachers and department heads, and it offers raises to those who “go above and beyond,” McAdams said during the interim study.
McAdams said his highest-earning teacher left a six-figure salary to teach science in Atoka schools.
“He’s the most impressive teacher that I’ve ever been around,” McAdams said. “How much is he worth? Is he worth $35,000? He makes $75,000 at Atoka School, highest paid teacher I’ve ever paid. I need to pay him another $75,000.”