Attracting and keeping Oklahoma teachers
While efforts to pass public school teacher raises failed last year, several bills are on the table to continue 2023’s progress in upping teacher pay. Senate Bill 201 by Sen. Adam Pugh (R-Edmond) raises the minimum salary schedule by $10,399, starting first-year teachers with bachelor’s degrees at $50,000.
That would put Oklahoma in line with neighboring states. Arkansas recently increased its minimum pay to $50,000 but also eliminated the statutory requirement for step raises, which are increases in base salary earned by teachers each additional year. New Mexico also passed a pay raise three years ago, which starts its Level 1 teachers at $50,000.
Pugh chairs the Senate Education Committee, where his bill would need to pass its first hurdle.
Other teacher pay bills are also on the docket. Senate Bill 142 by Sen. Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City) would raise minimum teacher pay by $3,000. House Bill 1112 by newcomer Rep. Ellen Pogemiller (D-Oklahoma City) would give teachers a $5,000 pay raise, and support staff would see a 6% raise.
Traditionally, support staff wages are set by school districts. Last year, the Senate attempted to negotiate a $2,500 one-time support staff stipend into the budget, but the House did not agree to it. In 2024, paraprofessionals made on average about $20,000 a year.
For veteran teachers, House Bill 1087 by Rep. Dick Lowe (R-Amber) would extend the minimum salary step raises to stop at 35 years of service, rather than 25. Lowe is a former agricultural education teacher and is taking over as the chair of the House Common Education Committee.
Newcomer Rep. Michelle McCane (D-Tulsa) is aiming to attract and retain teachers with the promise of free in-state college for their children. House Bill 1020 is similar to another bill filed last year that stalled in committee, and it would expand eligibility for the tuition waiver program Oklahoma’s Promise (OHLAP) to children of teachers employed at least five consecutive years.
Other bills are hoping to streamline the pipeline to becoming a certified teacher. Senate Education Committee Vice Chair Ally Seifried (R-Claremore) is proposing the “Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment Academy” in Senate Bill 7, which would provide tuition and fee assistance to students to earn a teaching degree and commit to spending three years in a critical shortage subject area.
Pugh’s Senate Bill 242, or the “Veterans Entering Teaching Act,” would provide tuition and fee assistance to students discharged from the military under honorable conditions who enroll at an Oklahoma higher education institution and teach in Oklahoma for three consecutive years.
Pugh also authored Senate Bill 235, called the “Grow Your Own Educator Program.” It would provide matching grant funds to school districts that have established a program to provide tuition or loan repayment assistance for employees pursuing an undergraduate teaching degree.
Senate Bill 186 by Sen. Mark Mann (D-Oklahoma City) would establish a grant program to provide emergency or provisionally certified teachers funds to assist them in obtaining alternative placement teaching certificates. Last year, Oklahoma broke records for the number of emergency certifications issued, at more than 4,500.
Similarly, House Bill 1113 by Pogemiller would require an adjunct teacher to obtain or begin the process of obtaining a standard, alternative placement or emergency certification before starting their third year of employment. State law does not prescribe educational prerequisites for adjunct teachers — those are left up to districts.
Help for college
Several bills aim to get more students into Oklahoma higher education institutions.
Senate Bill 140 by Seifried extends the application window for OHLAP for students from before entering 11th grade to no later than Dec. 31 of their 12th-grade year.
Senate Bill 406 by Sen. Michael Brooks (D-Oklahoma City) would establish an OHLAP point-of-contact to annually evaluate students in 8th-11th grades based on program eligibility criteria. The representative would make potentially eligible students and their parents aware of the opportunity to participate.
Senate Bill 185 by Sen. John Haste (R-Broken Arrow) aims to address workforce needs at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation by paying for tuition and fees if a student agrees to work in an eligible profession at ODOT for five years upon graduation.
Another bill, Senate Bill 56 by Sen. Darrell Weaver (R-Moore), is titled the First Responder Recruitment and Retention Act. It includes a tuition waiver for those pursuing a college degree related to a career as a peace officer, firefighter or emergency medical technician.
Hot-button policy proposals
Newcomer Rep. Gabe Woolley (R-Broken Arrow) is looking to pass House Bill 1165, which would require public schools to obtain proof of U.S. citizenship or legal immigration status from a parent or legal guardian of a student upon enrollment. Each district would then submit an annual report with the number of students who provided proof of citizenship, legal immigration status or failed to provide either, scrubbing any personally identifiable information.
The bill is similar to an administrative rule change proposed by State Superintendent Ryan Walters, which the legislature is also set to consider this session. However, like last session, the chambers could opt to take no action on the rules and instead let them flow to the governor’s desk without a vote.
During Walters’ tenure, the issue of determining library or classroom book appropriateness has remained front and center — like with a case of a Norman teacher’s certification being revoked for sharing a banned book QR code with her students or a state supreme court case ruling in favor of Edmond Public Schools to determine its own library content.
But Senate Bill 19 by Sen. Warren Hamilton (R-McCurtain) would put statutory weight behind Walters’ book crusade. It would require schools to submit a list of all books and other materials in their libraries and prohibit them from having any pornographic material or sexualized content. If in violation, the State Board of Education would be authorized to issue an accreditation deficiency, and the district would receive a 5% funding reduction from the state.
Senate Bill 348 by Michael Bergstrom (R-Adair) also aims to police school materials, as well as address several other hot-button culture war issues. It would:
- Require district boards of education to adopt policies that outline procedures for processing objections from parents or residents regarding specific instructional materials or library content.
- Require district textbook review teams to only recommend textbooks that maintain a person’s sex is an “immutable biological trait” and that it is “false to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to a person’s sex.”
- Require that materials for social studies, history or civics classes contain the “culturally and historically” significant stories that shaped the U.S., such as the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
- Recommendations for material are prohibited from containing anything that “implies collective guilt” due to a person’s race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, disability, socioeconomic status or occupation.
- Requires district textbook committees to have at least four parents or legal guardians of students enrolled at the district.
The legislature will also consider proposed social studies and science academic standards if approved by the State Board of Education. This year’s proposed social studies standards have drawn headlines for a significant increase in Christian material, lauded by Walters. Walters is also looking to the legislature to fund a $3 million proposal for classroom Bibles.
The “Free to Speak Act,” or Senate Bill 591, by Sen. Dusty Deevers (R-Elgin) brings another culture war issue to the table: transgender rights. It would prohibit employees of public schools or institutions of higher learning from intentionally addressing an unemancipated minor student by a name other than their legal name, or a derivative thereof, or by a pronoun inconsistent with the student’s biological sex without permission from the student’s parent or guardian.
It also prohibits disciplinary action against employees or students who decline to address a person by a name other than their legal name or a pronoun that does not match their biological sex.
Sen. Shane Jett (R-Shawnee) is looking to resurrect his proposal from last session to allow schools to contract with a chaplain to perform the duties of a school counselor. Senate Bill 486 would require chaplains working in schools to pass a national criminal background check. Last year’s bill saw pushback from faith leaders and religious freedom organizations.
Last session, two bills to restrict cell phone use in schools ultimately failed to make it across the finish line. But this year, Seifried is trying again with Senate Bill 139. It would require districts to create policies to prohibit cell phone use on school grounds during the school day, or “bell-to-bell.”
The House and Senate held multi-day legislative interim studies last fall on the merits of a statewide school cell phone policy. Nationally, eight states have banned cell phones at schools through legislation, 11 have introduced legislation, and 10 states’ education departments have issued policy recommendations or pilot programs to ban phones.
In higher education, two bills are looking to require the University of Oklahoma to establish a “School of American Civic Thought and Leadership.” Senate Bill 244 by Pugh and Senate Bill 267 by Sen. Julie Daniels (R-Bartlesville) would create the school, housed on the Norman campus, to educate students on “the principles, ideals and institutions of the American political order” and the “philosophical foundations of responsible leadership and informed citizenship.”
Under Pugh’s version, the school and its director would be under advisement on staffing and curriculum by a nine-member committee appointed by the governor and legislative leadership. Pugh and former Rep. Jon Echols (R-Oklahoma) filed a similar measure last year, which was amended to substitute the University of Central Oklahoma. It passed through the House but died in committee in the Senate.
Expanding school choice
At least two bills aim to expand private school subsidization this legislative session.
Senate Bill 247 by Deevers would create the “Fund Students, Not Systems Act,” setting up an education savings account (ESA). ESAs, generally, are voucher programs in which a state transfers funds into an account to be used by a student to pay for private school tuition and expenses. However, Deever’s bill lists public and charter schools as eligible education providers, as well.
Currently, at least 18 states have ESAs. The bill does not list a specific cap for the program.
Senate Bill 229 by Daniels would remove the cap to the Parental Choice Tax Credit program in 2027. The program offers Oklahoma families a refundable tax credit of $5,000 to $7,500 for private school expenses. The program’s cap is currently at $250 million for 2026. Last year, it maxed out its $150 million limit.
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