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$25 million in state budget officially approved for teacher pay raise schedule

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Members of the legislature signed off on part of the state's budget Tuesday, dedicating $25 million to public education. It's tied to House Bill 1087, which was authored by Rep. Dick Lowe (R-Amber) and co-authored on the Senate side by Sen. Adam Pugh (R-Edmond). The bill would give long-standing, or senior teachers, an incentive to stay in the classroom by raising the teacher pay raise ceiling. 'We don't want it to go into administration,' said Pugh. 'We don't want it to go into other things that don't directly affect the classroom learning.' Stitt signs bill limiting Oklahomans' access to support ballot initiative petitions In years past, the state's pay raise schedule for teachers allowed a bump in pay each year through 25 years, depending on a person's degree and certification. Now, with the new law, it would extend those increases through 40 years. 'This is specifically focused on keeping our more senior and experienced teachers,' said Pugh. Part of the bill also required schools to add one day to the mandated number of days in the school year. Democratic lawmakers questioned if $25 million would cover the added costs for districts while also allowing for the pay raise for qualified teachers.'So there will be no increase in salary for teachers who would potentially be required to work an additional day,' said Sen. Carri Hicks (D-Oklahoma City). Pugh said lawmakers had already factored that problem into the funding. '[We] are paying above and beyond what it really costs to run a school district,' said Pugh. Oklahoma's starting pay for teachers is a little below $40,000, which has made it hard to compete with salary offers from schools across the region. 'We know that some of our surrounding states are already there, and we're going to have to continue to evaluate that and look for ways to keep our men and women in the classroom,' said Pugh. He pushed to increase starting pay to $50,000 for Oklahoma educators this session, but his bill fell short. Pugh said he intended to bring the bill back up again in the next session. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.