Fallin Softens Stance On Teacher Raise Money

After a press conference for her criminal justice task force Wednesday, Gov. Mary Fallin took questions from reporters on what will be done with more than $140 million dollars in leftover money from last fiscal year.

However, Fallin signaled she may be changing stance on the answer.

“I have different ideas on how to get other revenue for the teacher pay raises and maybe be able to return some of that $140 million back to the state agencies prioritize for certain needs,” Fallin said.

In a July statement, Fallin called on lawmakers to put the money toward education. 

“I’ve begun discussions with legislative leaders to consider calling lawmakers to return in special session to address the issue of teacher pay raises. I continue to support a pay raise for teachers, having called on lawmakers at the beginning of this year’s session to approve a teacher pay raise. Lawmakers considered it, but this was an extremely difficult budget year and a funding agreement couldn’t be reached. With this available money, I am again asking lawmakers to act on this important issue of providing a raise for every teacher in this state,” Fallin said in the July statement. 

Funding teacher pay raises was a priority for Fallin at this year's State of the State address. Her plan to use the $140 million is being called an "alternative" to a one cent sales tax increase proposal which is up for a statewide vote this November.

After her comments, the governor's press secretary Michael McNutt tried to clarify the statement and said Fallin was hoping to bring lawmakers closer to a resolution by finding alternate uses for the money to make sure everyone's needs, including teachers and agencies in need, are met. 

McNutt cited the recent request from the Department of Public Safety for $12 million as one of those agencies. DPS would only receive $1.9 million if the money was given back to agencies.

The $140 million in available funds stems from an over estimation of revenue loss in the last part of FY2016. The governor had instructed agencies to make cuts in anticipation of a revenue failure that turned out not to be as severe as expected.

Lawmakers have said they would like to see the money go back to the agencies in the same amounts. Several, including Sen. Mike Schulz, have hinted at not coming in for a special session at all.

“There's a couple of instances in the past 30 or 40 years that governors have called special sessions and either the legislature showed up to adjourn or did not show up at all,” Schulz said in early August.

Fallin said she has a meeting Thursday morning with legislative leaders to continue talks on how to reallocate the money. She was not able to give a time table for when a decision would be reached.