State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, who is running for governor, announced Monday that she will be seeking a $5,000 across-the-board teacher pay hike by including it in her agency’s annual budget request to the Oklahoma Legislature.
The budget request is to be presented to the Oklahoma State Board of Education at its next meeting Thursday.
The estimated cost of the raise for Oklahoma’s 52,850 current certified teachers is $310 million.
The state’s public school teachers received an average increase of $1,220 in 2019 and an increase of $6,100 in 2018, after teachers from across the state staged a walkout at the Capitol.
Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is running for reelection, has discussed the possibility of a pay for performance system that would make it possible for “the best and the brightest” classroom teachers to earn as much as $100,000 annually.
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“We’ve significantly raised teacher pay in recent years, but so did our neighboring states with whom we are competing. This investment is vital to our ability to build a sustainable teacher workforce, necessary for providing the high-quality education Oklahoma students need and deserve,” said Hofmeister. “In the midst of an unprecedented and worsening teacher shortage, it is imperative we look for long-term solutions to show that Oklahoma values and respects its teachers.”
State education officials report that Oklahoma currently ranks fourth in the region for teacher pay with its average annual salary of $54,096, trailing New Mexico at $54,256, Texas at $57,090 and Colorado at $57,706.
And New Mexico’s governor recently signed legislation that will boost teacher salaries there an additional $10,000.
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In this week's episode, Ginnie Graham and Bob Doucette talk about Ginnie's meeting with TU student leaders, the stigma that continues with mental health, the troubling political landscape in Oklahoma as campaign season heats up, the death of Queen Elizabeth and an important message from Bob about the value of disconnecting.
