Department of Education
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister today unveiled a proposed five-year plan to elevate teacher pay to the regional average and the number of days of instruction to the national average.
The pn ultimately would provide Oklahoma teachers with a $5,000 pay increase over 2012-13 figures and add five days of instruction to the school year after five years.
Dubbed #OKhigh5, the proposal would cost $150 million its initial year, which represents the bulk of the requested $205 million budget increase to the Oklahoma State Board of Education for Fiscal Year 2016.
Hofmeister said higher teacher pay is a critical part of resolving a significant teacher shortage. According to the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, there are close to 1,000 teacher positions needing to be filled statewide.
“It’s no secret that Oklahoma teachers are woefully underpaid and classrooms are overcrowded,” Hofmeister said. “Schools are understaffed. A combination of low teacher pay and declining job satisfaction is driving teachers out of the profession or to other states. If we want higher student outcomes, we need to ensure we attract and retain top talent in Oklahoma classrooms.”
The proposal would provide a $2,000 pay raise and two additional days of instruction for the 2015-16 school year. Pay would increase annually until the 2019-20 school year, when Oklahoma’s average teacher salary would be $49,677 — more than $5,300 over the state’s average teacher pay from 2012-13.
Only two states — Mississippi and South Dakota — have lower average teacher pay than Oklahoma, where the average is $44,128. That is $3,248 less than the average annual teacher pay in surrounding states.
“Oklahoma teachers do an incredible job on behalf of our schoolchildren, and they need and deserve competitive compensation. I look forward to working with the Legislature and the Governor in realizing our mutual goal of showing our teachers how much we value them,” said Hofmeister.
For more information on the proposed budget, click here. (#OKhigh5 information on pages 6-8)
As part of her plan to increase / improve teacher salaries she also needs to require consolidation of ADMINISTRATION for districts in one county. That would mean at least 400 less superintendents since most of the 77 counties would need 1 superintendent for all of their districts, and the metro areas with districts that have 10,000+ students would keep their administration. But she could also require that ALL of the money freed up must be paid directly to actual classroom teachers, instead of the administrators and boards playing number games with this money.
If she is serious about improving teacher pay she needs to also be serious about cutting the excessive administrative costs due to 500+ districts.
Slow clap. I’ve been saying this for years. Cut admin costs and that alone will save millions.
I agree wholehearedly!
Interesting the average teacher pay is $44,128. I’ve been teaching 22 years and make about $3,000 less than that. Where do they get these numbers? They must include university professors and/or administrators.
I agree. I think they are averaging in the administrative salaries. Oh well, I am at the end of my career. I hate to see the change in climate of the classrooms over the past few years. Sad state of affairs.
Why do articles continue to report the average teacher’s pay in Oklahoma at $44000? I feel it is only accurate to add that you have the potential to earn that amount after 25 years of teaching. The starting pay in most districts is $29500. That is why so many “new” teachers can’t stay in Oklahoma. Who can live on that?
Is the plan merit based or across the board to everyone, good and not-so-good.
Is time on the job a consideration?
The starting pay for this year is $31,600 – see 70 OS Section 18-114.13. $29,500 is a historical figure. And my district is by no means unique in paying slightly over the statutory minimum.
Agree with Edmond Voter on consolidating administration: good idea.
And once you get past the first year, you ought to be able to determine whether the teacher is good, average or bad. Give the good ones good pay, give the average ones COL, and show the door to the bad ones.
I’m a little slowwww, but I’m pretty sure they’re including retirement and Health Insurance benifits in that total amount.
Sincerly,
A slow and lonely Turtle
Janice and Melissa – this is the kind of “funny figures” that administration likes to provide. My son is a teacher in the OKC district in his 4th year and isn’t making anywhere close to the $44,128 she’s reporting as avg. teacher pay. He has to work a part time job just to survive and put food on the table for him & his son!
Maybe this number includes benefits, retirement, etc. and is actually the total cost for a teacher instead of their base salary! If that’s the case, then shame on them for trying to deceive the voters. They sure don’t report the total cost to the district for a superintendent when it’s mentioned, they only want to state the base salary (which can double when you add in retirement, perks, car allowance, etc.)
Stop playing games and fix the problems! And pay our full time classroom teachers a living wage!
When you add days to the school year along with the pay, it’s not a raise.