Teacher Pay Raises

By Rep. Rick West

One area of the state budget that’s gotten a lot of attention is teacher pay raises. The House and Senate are proposing appropriating $100 million to the State Department of Education to give $2,000 step increases on the Minimum Salary Schedule.

Qualifying for the raise under Senate Bill 201 would be all certified persons employed on a full-time basis to serve as a teacher, counselor, librarian, or certified or registered nurse. People excluded from the raise are supervisors, school board members, board of trustee members, commandant of cadets, deans, assistant or vice principals, assistant superintendents, executive assistants, chief financial officers, instructional program directors, managers, noninstructional program directors, principals or heads of schools, chief executive officers, and heads of charter schools.

Paraprofessionals and non-certified staff are not included in this. I would have liked to see these compensated in this bill, but House and Senate budget leaders have said that would be up to local school districts to pay for support staff raises out of additional money they have received over the last 10 years. According to House fiscal staff, we’ve seen a 73.7% increase in funding over 10 years for kindergarten through 12th-grade education.

It’s important to note that if a teacher already makes more than the minimum salary specified in state statute, it would be up to the school district whether to give them a raise beyond that amount.

This bill has passed the Senate and the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, but it still has to pass on the House floor.

There were several other areas of the budget on which I did not agree. It contains $25 million for the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund to spend at his discretion and $200 million to create the Taxpayer’s Endowment Fund Trust – a state investment account for children in our state. I would rather we give this money back to the taxpayer to let them invest or spend it as they choose.

On a positive note, some of the workers from Kiamichi Electric stopped by my Capitol office last week to visit about the role of Oklahoma electric cooperatives and the value they bring to their communities. What a great bunch of guys. I appreciate the work they do to keep the lights and power on in homes and businesses.

There are two proposed Senate joint resolutions on which the House will soon be asked to vote that would lead to state questions. One would ask voters whether to lower the percentage of homestead tax from 3% to 1% and the tax on general land from 5% to 3%. The other would ask voters whether someone should have to show an ID to vote. I’m in favor of both.

We also recently determined the state will allow the sale of ungraded eggs and raw milk. People in my district and many others are already doing this, so I guess it’s good we approved it.

Two bills on which I voted no were Senate Bill 1509, which has to do with water well spacing and Senate Bill 1928, which would remove the requirement for certain metering and instead let the Oklahoma Water Resources Board decide how much water can be used. I don’t think we need this. I did, however, vote yes on Senate Bill 1346, which would allow the OWRB to invest in rural water infrastructure. We need this in our small towns.

Remember to listen to my Capitol update on the radio at 7:35 a.m. every Thursday on KPRV.

As always, if I can help you with anything, please call my Capitol office at (405) 557-7413 or email me at rick.west@okhouse.gov.

 

Rick West serves District 3 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes part of LeFlore County.