House passes teacher pay raise, tying it to the success of private school tax credits

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A new teacher pay raise proposal is now tied to the success of the Governor’s education plans, which includes private school tax credits and funding for districts outside the state aid formula.

In the House, a bill was “shucked,” meaning the original language was stripped and replaced with an entirely new bill.

Originally, SB561 was for the TANF program.

OKC Democrat Forrest Bennett was not too pleased to see it go, saying it would have benefited many of his constituents.

“That was good legislation, straight forward legislation, something that would’ve helped and it was a bipartisan legislation. I was proud to see the Speaker’s name on this bill. And I would’ve been proud to vote for it,” said Bennett.

The floor substitute was presented by Republican Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon.

“We are making education a priority in Oklahoma,” said Baker, when debating the Republican position on education funding.

This latest version of a teacher pay raise bill would look like this:

• Years 0-4: $2,000
• Years 5-9: $3,000
• Years 10-14: $4,000
• Years 15+: $5,000

It is a similar breakdown to what Senator Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, proposed in his education plan, but $1,000 less per bracket of experience.

Baker said during her presentation that Wednesday’s bill would be tied to the success of Governor Kevin Stitt’s new education compromise plan, which will take the place of HB1935 and HB2775.

Democrats were irate to hear that teacher pay raises will now go hand-in-hand with private school tax credits.

“We have a bill that has been tied chain-gang style to a measure that will likely give affluent families a big healthy voucher tax credit,” said Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa.

Teacher pay raises was once a stand-alone bill, but now it can be eliminated entirely if the other education plans fail to pass.

“So the price, Mr. Speaker, for doing something, even a little bit for teachers, is that we must do much more for the rich and the wealthy,” said Waldron, pointing out how teachers earning the largest pay raise ($5,000) will still receive less than families getting the proposed tax credit ($6,000).

Baker was steadfast in her support for the bill.

“There are a lot of those teachers we are trying to help and we’ll continue to do so,” said the Republican from Yukon.

If the new pay raise bill becomes law, its cost for FY2024 would be $224 million.

Baker said she is proud of the increased investments into public education since she was elected in 2016.

“If we get our way and can get education funded this year that’s a 46 percent increase [since 2016] in education funding,” said Baker.

The bill passed the House along party lines and will now head to the Senate.

But that is where it might go to die.

Senate leadership said it already communicated with the House and Governor that these new education plans will not pass.

“They are playing games and giving false hope,” said Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-OKC.