Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
Tulsa World Staff Writer
Tulsa Public Schools’ Board of Education will consider a proposal Monday night for the district to participate this semester in a merit-based teacher stipend plan.
TPS officials confirmed Friday that the district was approached Feb. 23 about collaborating with the Oklahoma State Department of Education to facilitate TPS’ participation in the Oklahoma Teacher Empowerment Fund this semester.
If approved by the board Monday night, about 100 teachers across the district would be eligible to apply for advanced status under the program, which carries a $6,000 one-time raise, a $3,000 stipend and five extra contract days. Under the terms of the program guidelines, the district has to use student performance, teacher observations and out-of-classroom time as criteria to narrow down which teachers would be eligible.
According to a copy of the application obtained by the Tulsa World, English language arts teachers and reading interventionists around the district whose students showed the most growth on the reading portion of the NWEA MAP test from either fall 2022 to spring 2023 or from fall 2023 to winter 2024 were invited to apply.
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Among the demands placed on TPS to retain its accreditation is that at least half of its students score at at least basic level on the English language arts portion of state tests this spring or increase the number of students meeting that threshold by at least 5%.
Pending board approval, the application would close at 5 p.m. Tuesday and recipients would be selected by March 11.
According to an internal message sent to all TPS teachers Friday afternoon, those who participate in the program will provide targeted instructional support to other teachers around the district from March 25 through May 10, with their regular classes covered by Oklahoma State Department of Education employees with teaching certificates.
A district spokesman later clarified that the participating teachers would only be offsite for portions of select days during that window rather than the entire seven-week period.
Both a district spokesman and Shawna Mott-Wright, president of the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association, confirmed that the teachers’ collective bargaining unit was included in the conversations about potentially adding the program.
Approved in 2022, House Bill 4388 directs that any Oklahoma lottery proceeds in excess of $65 million be put into a revolving fund to finance the Oklahoma Teacher Empowerment Fund Program. The program, which received $22.5 million in lottery proceeds in September, provides additional one-time bonuses of at least $6,000 to educators who are designated as advanced, lead or master teachers by their school districts.
However, districts are required to provide matching money to participate, and the number of teachers who would be eligible for those funds is capped at 10% per district. Additionally, the recipients are required to have more days added to their contract.
According to the district’s Finance Department, TPS will use its fund balance to pay for its share if the proposal is approved at Monday night’s meeting.
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