• With an average teacher pay increase of $6,100, this package would enact the largest teacher pay increase in state history and increase teacher pay above the regional average.
• Offering larger raises to experienced teachers will help keep many of our retirement-bound education veterans in the classroom so they can later enjoy the benefit of retiring at a higher pay rate. This will significantly strengthen the teacher pipeline and could attract recently retired teachers back to the classroom.
• Greater separation in pay between new and experienced teachers provides greater incentive for young teachers to stay in the profession and for those who want to consider teaching as a profession.
• Focusing first on teacher pay is what's best for students. Oklahoma is losing teachers at an alarming rate. The shrinking applicant pool undermines teacher quality, requires already cash-strapped districts to redirect resources to professional development to support underprepared teachers and places a burden on other teachers to provide additional support. Research shows the classroom teacher is the most important in-school factor in student success so we must ensure our great teachers stay in Oklahoma classrooms!
• Supporting this plan isn't giving up or ignoring the additional needs of teachers, students and schools. This is a great first step toward a long-term funding plan for education, and the pursuit of additional resources for schools will remain a top priority.
• This plan is much more beneficial to education and to teachers than the A+ and Step Up plans. It not only provides a larger teacher pay raise, but it also includes support employee pay raises and some operational funding that was absent from the other plans.

Bill Review

• HB 1023xx is the $353.5 million teacher pay raise bill and would go into effect beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. It would:
  • Increase the minimum salary schedule by at least $5,000 at every level.
  • Provide larger raises for more experienced teachers, including a $7,700 increase to the minimum salary schedule for a teacher with 25 years of experience.
  • Fund an average $6,1000 teacher pay raise.
  • Download a copy of the proposed minimum salary schedule here.

• HB 1026xx is the $52 million support employee pay raise bill and would go into effect beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. It would:
  • Provide a full-time support employee pay raise of $1,250 if the employee stays employed in the same district. (For less than full-time employees, the amount of the salary increase would be prorated based on hours worked).
• HB 3705 is the FY19 education appropriations bill. It would:
  • Appropriate $33 million in funding for textbooks and instructional materials.
  • Restore $17 million cut from the education budget this year.

• HB 1010xx is the 76-vote revenue bill used to fund the plan and would raise nearly $500 million in FY 19. Read the fiscal impact statement here. It includes:
  • Increase in the gross production tax (GPT) from 2 to 5 percent
  • $1-a-pack cigarette tax
  • 3-cent gas/6-cent diesel tax
  • $5 a night hotel/motel tax
• HB 1011xx caps itemized deductions and is projected to net an additional $94 million in revenue for FY19.
• HB 1013xx is the ball-and-dice gaming expansion and is projected to net $24 million in revenue for FY19 and potentially more in future years.

ACTION: Please ask senators to vote yes for teacher pay raises and education funding!

Senate