SB142 – Public School Teacher Pay Raise of $3000

Proposed bill as introduced, authored by Senator Carri Hicks

What does the proposed bill do? In a nutshell, beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, certain certified public school personnel will receive a salary increase of $3000. This bill also removes certain existing language to preserve this increase for only public school certified personnel.

More specifically, this proposed bill amends 70 O.S. section 18-114.15 (current version): 

• Updates in this proposed salary schedule will become effective July 1, 2025 (at the start of the 2025-2026 school year).
• The chart of the minimum salary schedule shows increases in all degree categories by $3,000. Each person will essentially be paid $3,000 more for salary and/or fringe benefits.
• This applies only to those public school employees defined in state law: “Certified personnel” means a certified person employed on a full-time basis to serve as a teacher, principal, supervisor, administrator, counselor, librarian, or certified or registered nurse, but shall not mean a superintendent of a school district.”
• Sections H, I, and J in current law are removed which essentially just excludes other non-public school employee groups from this particular salary increase that were included before as part of a retention bonus. 

Background for those new to school laws:

• State law determines the lowest possible salary a certified public school employee can make based upon their years of service and level of highest degree of education.
• Public school teachers’ salaries are paid by their employing school district but the funding comes from the State budget. This includes more personnel than teachers as shown in the list above.
• Without boring you to death, school personnel salaries can only be paid for out of a general fund. School funding is broken up into several different funds each with its own unique purpose and parameters.
• Public schools can pay more in salary if their district’s general funding budget allows it. For public school districts that have negotiating unions, this is a major consideration in those negotiations.
• School budgets are funded by the Oklahoma State Legislature following a complicated formula which roughly links to student enrollment per public school district. When districts have more students, they get more money.
• Once a teacher is paid a certain level of salary, it cannot be reduced in future years. There are procedures in state law to reduce salary or to reduce their duties, but it requires a due process hearing before the local school board of education.
• While most school personnel work during the school year (August to May), they are paid across the calendar year. We call it “annualized pay.” But it’s important to know that many school administration personnel work year-round. This salary schedule increase does not apply to them.
• Not to complicate things, but the general funding does NOT cover buildings, maintenance, construction, etc. More about that another time…

Initial Thoughts from a School Law Perspective:

• Senator Hicks has shared that her intention behind this proposal is to address the teacher crisis we are in and to keep up with the teacher opportunities in surrounding states. 
• While the Oklahoma Legislature continues to raise teacher salaries each year, the states surrounding us continue to do more as well. And they are simply outnumbering us. The average starting teacher salary in Texas is almost $10,000 more per year. 
• There is another teacher pay increase bill (SB201) filed by Senator Adam Pugh which also proposes to raise certified public school personnel salaries effective for the 2025-2026 school year. The increase in this bill is closer to $10,000 above what is currently in law.

Behind the scenes and completely my personal opinion, our teacher crisis and teacher shortage isn’t only directly tied to salary. Yes, the external value of a teacher is first and foremost salary. But personally, it’s the other rhetorical and political circumstances around teachers and school personnel that impacts the drive and grit to keep going.

The intrinsic values of school folks is professionalism, integrity, trustworthiness, responsibility, and caring for our children and their futures. And those values have been not only questioned but antagonized. I hope one of these proposed bills is supported throughout the process and gets through all of the deadlines and hurdles of the legislative process.