An Oklahoma signing bonus program, intending to fill a critical workforce shortage in public schools, will reward 151 special education teachers up to $20,000 this school year.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education announced Tuesday the program will award signing bonuses to 34 experienced special education teachers who came from out of state and to 117 new teachers who recently became certified for the first time.
The program exceeded the agency’s initial goal of recruiting 110 special education teachers to work with students with disabilities. About 17% of public school students in Oklahoma are receiving services for a disability, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Out-of-state teachers coming to Oklahoma were eligible for a $20,000 signing bonus this year and another $5,000 in the 2026-27 school year if they remain in the same district.
Newly certified special education teachers qualified for a $10,000 signing bonus and a potential $2,500 retention bonus next year.
The initiative attracted educators from at least 17 states and Japan, the Education Department reported. Seventy-nine Oklahoma districts are participating.
Recipients of the signing bonuses are moving from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas, the agency said.
Agency spokesperson Madison Cercy said signing bonus recipients coming from California have been instructed to take an “America First” assessment. The Education Department developed the test with the conservative media entity PragerU to weed out educators with “woke agendas” who relocate from progressive states.
The agency also sent the notification to teachers moving from New York, Cercy said, though that state wasn’t one the Education Department initially listed in its announcement of the signing bonuses.
Another state agency that oversees teacher certification testing, the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, has warned the “America First” test could overstep legal bounds.
State law mandates that the Oklahoma State Board of Education “shall issue a certificate to teach to a person who holds a valid out-of-state certificate.” Oklahoma statutes require no further assessment besides a criminal history check for teachers who are already certified and moving from out of state.
The state Education Department first announced the $20,000 signing bonuses in April, saying at the time it had budgeted $1.875 million from the federal fund IDEA Part B, which supports students with disabilities.
This is the agency’s third round of signing bonuses for teacher recruitment under state Superintendent Ryan Walters.
Walters has leveraged hefty signing bonuses to attract hundreds of certified educators to return to teaching after having left the profession or to move to Oklahoma from other states.
In 2023, his administration offered between $15,000 and $50,000 to early elementary and special education teachers. The effort drew more than 500 teachers, though the Education Department paid a few by mistake.
The second wave of signing bonuses granted up to $25,000 to educators who accepted hard-to-fill math and science positions in rural middle and high schools. That initiative rewarded 61 teachers last year.
“Through investing in our educators and rewarding excellence we are making sure every child in Oklahoma has the opportunity to succeed,” Walters said Tuesday.
Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence.
