Tierra Landrum is the “hub” of her school building.
She’s a school secretary in McAlester Public Schools, a job that has her handle administrative tasks, nursing duties, human resources and conflict mediation. Landrum said she’s not motivated by money, but the $15 hourly wage proposed in State Question 832 would make a significant difference in her pay, which is currently $12.14 an hour.
The higher wage might allow her to consider quitting her second job at a nursing home, give her more time with her teenage son and help her put two children through college, Landrum said. Right now, she needs both jobs and family support to cover her bills.
While critics of the state question warn it could hurt school budgets and cause a harmful shock to Oklahoma’s economy, Landrum said the ballot measure could deliver a long-awaited raise for district support staff who work essential jobs like driving buses, serving cafeteria meals, cleaning classrooms and assisting teachers.
“I keep telling all of my people here, the only way you’re going to get your raise is if you make them give you your raise and you go vote yes on that (state) question,” Landrum said. “That’s the only way that you’re going to get at least the $15 (an hour), and that’s not even $15 automatically.”
The state question, which will appear on the June 16 ballot, proposes raising the state’s $7.25 hourly minimum wage by $1.50 annually until it reaches $15 by 2029. After that point, the minimum wage would automatically increase yearly if the cost of living, based on the federal government’s Consumer Price Index, also rises.
While state and federal employees would not receive the increase, workers employed at schools, counties and local governments would qualify.
More than 40,000 Oklahomans work in school support staff positions, earning an average base pay of $21,226 per year, according to an Oklahoma Voice analysis of state records. The average grows to $26,101 per year for those marked as full-time-equivalent employees. That amounts to $13.59 an hour when divided across 40 hours a week.
A $15 minimum hourly wage would almost certainly necessitate a state funding increase for Eufaula Public Schools to afford it, Superintendent Monty Guthrie said.
The eastern Oklahoma district has steadily raised its support staff wages “just to attract anyone” and bumped up their pay in years when teachers received significant raises, he said.
Although Guthrie hasn’t run the numbers on how much SQ 832 would cost his district, he said Eufaula is sure to see an impact on its support staff wages, which start at $11 an hour and top out at $22 to $23.
Should SQ 832 pass, support employees already earning above $15 an hour likely would expect a raise, as well, Guthrie said. That would further exacerbate an already challenging financial scenario — all while other operational expenses, like the cost to fuel and replace school buses, continue to rise.
“Everyone would like to pay their support staff more. That’s universal,” he said. “But it will require some additional funding.”
Supporters of the state question say it could help more workers earn a livable wage. SQ 832 gives Oklahomans, particularly those working public-service or caretaking jobs, the opportunity “to solve a policy problem that politicians have ignored for years,” said Amber England, a spokesperson for Raise the Wage Oklahoma.
Opponents warn it could harm businesses, raise prices for consumers and eliminate entry-level positions.
The Oklahoma State Chamber, a powerful collective of the state’s business community, contended the measure could result in tax increases or cuts to public services if government entities, like schools, are made to pay higher wages. SQ 832’s ballot language also acknowledges this is a possibility.
Gov. Kevin Stitt in a recent interview called the state question a “terrible policy,” particularly the risk of indefinite minimum wage increases beyond $15.
Entry-level minimum wage jobs should be a starting point for high school students, he said, not a long-term primary source of income.
The governor’s comments left Landrum furious. She said it shows he’s “ignorant” of many working Oklahomans’ economic reality. Support positions are essential to public schools, she said, but the pay is often insufficient to cover basic necessities without working multiple jobs or having extra help.
Recent increases to public school funding haven’t translated into a substantial change in her paychecks, either, Landrum said.
Mysti Ball, a support staff employee in Choctaw-Nicoma Park Public Schools, agreed.
For Ball, SQ 832 would raise her hourly wage up from $14.16 and help her family more easily pay for gas and groceries. It wouldn’t afford anything extra, she said, “just the regular old everyday things that we all need because everything is going up in price nowadays.”
Ball has spent eight and a half years working as a library media assistant in Choctaw-Nicoma Park Public Schools, assisting with library classes, circulating and repairing books, helping students find a title they want to read and answering questions about school computers. Next year, she’ll aid teachers in the classroom as a paraprofessional.
“I feel like most districts do already pay us above what minimum wage is because they tend to somewhat look at us as more of a profession,” Ball said. “But we are still nowhere close to being able to make ends meet on our own income as support staff.”
The state Legislature has considered targeting pay raises for these workers in recent years. Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, proposed a $2,500 stipend for school support staff in 2024.
Pugh, the head of the Senate Education Committee, said he pushed for the policy after hearing complaints from some support employees that they received little to no pay raise after the Legislature passed a major education funding increase in 2023. Lawmakers at the time encouraged districts to use the extra money to boost support staff salaries.
But, the $2,500 stipend had too little support in the Legislature to become a reality, said Pugh, now a Republican candidate running for state superintendent.
SQ 832 wouldn’t be a responsible alternative for a support staff raise, he said. He warned it would create an “unfunded mandate” for public schools and could cause reductions in force among certified staff positions.
Instead, he said the state should continue increasing public school funding and pursue policies that reduce costs for all Oklahomans.
“I think there’s solutions if we work together to help this issue,” Pugh said. “I just don’t think that state question is going to be the right way to do it.”
In the western Oklahoma school district of Seiling, support staff hourly wages range from $11.50 to $27, depending on the position, years of experience and additional certifications involved.
Superintendent Kyle Reynolds said the district receives enough local tax revenue that it gets no state funding, but someday that might change if current economic trends hold. Operational costs have gone up while revenue has decreased, he said, which could pull Seiling back onto the state funding formula at some point.
In the meantime, “increasing our expenditures at this point is not going to be sustainable,” he said.
“I do know people that are trying to scrape by on minimum-wage jobs, and it’s not just teenagers,” Reynolds said. “It’s tough. So, I get that. I also understand the other side of the argument that says if we raise minimum wage, it’s going to raise our costs on everything. The truth’s somewhere in the middle, in my opinion.”
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.
