Senate Committee Passes Another Teacher Pay Bill

A state Senate committee passed a bill to give teachers pay increases without figuring out a way to pay for the raises.  

“Is there any new news on the funding for such a piece of legislation?” Sen. JJ Dossett, D-Tulsa, asked.

“There’s been talks on many different revenue raising measures of exemptions but any new news since the last time we talked no,” Sen. Jason Smalley, R-District 28, replied.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is following the House of Representatives shoes, passing a bill to give teachers raises without finding a way to pay for those raises.

“Putting this out here now is just giving false hope,” said Majority Whip Mark Allen. “I don’t think it’s going to build morale for teachers hearing the state’s putting something out that they might get.”

“The weight on this is going to be tremendous if it fails,” Dossett said. “Until we can fully do this, then I think this is dangerous.”

The bill passed out of committee 39 to 3. Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Schulz said he’s not optimistic teachers will receive raises this year.