$25 million of new money will be injected into the state funding formula, which comes with one additional day of instruction to be added to school districts' calendars. '
Oklahoma veteran teachers will also see more money. Currently, state-mandated step raises for teachers stop at 25 years of service. Next year, the salary schedule will continue to 40 years.
"What we have been saying again and again repeatedly is, what we need to invest in and focus in, in public education, is making sure we're recruiting and retaining quality teachers," House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) said at a Wednesday press conference. "… That's an incentive to stay in the classroom — it's also an incentive for teachers who have left the classroom to come back because they'll get a major pay raise with this increase."
The deal also includes an agreement on House Bill 1727, which would make the children of teachers who have taught at least 10 years in an Oklahoma public school district eligible for the Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, also known as Oklahoma's Promise. The program grants students a scholarship for tuition at an Oklahoma college, university or technology center. The bill is currently in conference committee.
Eligibility would only apply to students of certified classroom teachers at the time the student applies, between eighth and eleventh grade. Teachers do not need to have taught for 10 consecutive years. It does not apply to certified teachers employed as school administrators.
Unless a child is determined to be independent of a parent for financial aid purposes, financial qualification for teacher families would be:
- For parents with two or fewer children, a federal adjusted gross income of less than $175,000 per year
- For parents with three or four children, a federal adjusted gross income of less than $185,000 per year
- For parents with five or more children, a federal adjusted gross income of less than $195,000 per year
The new budget also includes $5 million for targeted tutoring that teachers get paid extra for, called high-dosage tutoring, and $4 million to offset costs for teacher maternity leave.
Despite a request from CareerTech to increase the agency's budget, the legislature has agreed to an 8.8% decrease in its funding. The agreement includes a $27.6 million reduction in workforce development funding and a $950,000 reduction in program expansion, including an inmate transition program. The agency did, however, see a $9.3 million increase for enrollment capacity.
The House's Budget Transparency Portal can be accessed here.
