Senate Education Committee Reveals Education Agenda For This Session

The new senate education committee released their education agenda for this session. 

Sen. Adam Pugh, (R) - Edmond, is serving as the Senate education committee chairman. He outlined his plan for enhancing education: 14 bills totaling $541 million. This would be new dollars and would not come out of the State Department of Education's budget. 

Last year, OSDE was allocated over $1.4 billion in funding.

Pugh said he understands this is an aggressive plan- but said it’s really just a starting plan he hopes will show how serious he is about improving Oklahoma’s public education.

He outlined four pillars that his education bills fall under: recruiting more qualified teachers to Oklahoma classrooms; retaining teachers already in the classroom; rewarding high performing teachers; and reforming the way public dollars are spent on public education.

"Recruit, retain, reward and reform," Pugh said.

He highlighted a few bills during his address. SB 529 would create an Oklahoma Teacher Corps, providing scholarships to students who enter Oklahoma colleges.

“We will pay for their degree under the promise that they graduate, get a teaching certificate in the state of Oklahoma, and then give four years of service to a Title 1 school in the state of Oklahoma," Pugh said.

SB 523 would give $50 million for schools to implement school safety plans unique to their district. 

SB 522 would bring back the mentorship program that was removed due to funding issues last session.

“This would be a $500 stipend for all mentor teachers to a new teacher, whether again new to the classroom or just new to that district," Pugh said.

SB 364 will give 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. “I also learned just yesterday that teachers do not get paid maternity leave, that was shocking to me," Sen. Kristen Thompson, (R) - Edmond, said.

Thompson is serving as the Vice Chair of Education Appropriations. 

SB 482 will move the starting teacher pay to $40,000 with increasing raises. Every five years, the teacher would get another raise. 

SB 527 will increase K-3rd grade funding with the goal being 100 percent reading proficiency for kids entering 4th grade.

“It's aggressive- I think it should be. Our Oklahoma students deserve the best we haven't been getting there and I think it's a disservice," Sen. Ally Seifried, (R)- Claremore, said. 

Seifried is serving as the Vice Chair of Education Policy. 

Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat said in a statement: "His agenda this session is ambitious, and I hope Sen. Pugh unveiling his ideas sparks a discussion with others on how to improve education in the state. While individual members will have their own suggestions on how to improve upon his ideas, it is a great place to start as we put our children, their parents and hardworking teachers first. I have full confidence in Sen. Pugh’s abilities to lead these conversations on this important topic.”

Overview of all 14 bills:

Recruit:

1. SB 529 - $15 million- Create Oklahoma Teacher Corps – provide scholarships to students who enter Oklahoma Colleges of Education, graduate and receive teaching certificate. Those who pass their program must commit four years of service in a Title I school or pay scholarship amount back to state.
2. SB 522 - $5 million – Mentorship Program - this bill will provide $500 stipends for mentors of new teachers. The goal is to pair every new teacher (both to the career or new to the district) with a mentor.
3. SB 361 – Create a multistate teacher licensure compact – Be the first state to recognize teacher licensure reciprocity in a multistate compact. Recognize professional experience and licensure from other states, and not lose teachers because of bureaucratic paperwork that discourages immediate entry into the workforce upon moving to Oklahoma.

Retain:

1. SB 364 - $25 million Paid Maternity Leave – Will give teachers who have been with a district for at least one year 12 weeks of maternity leave. With a career field that is 76% female, this will allow new mothers to take time away to be with their newborns and return to the classroom as able. Solves a key workforce issue, is pro-life, and does not force a new parent to choose between career and family.
2. SB 523 – $50 million School Safety – Provide the Oklahoma School Security Institute with $50 million in grant funding to allocate by application process to meet unique and individual district needs for added security personnel, infrastructure, technology, training.
3. SB 525 - $1 million Credentialing – Reimburse each school district to pay for recertifying each teachers’ credentials if they are asked to gain additional credentials.

Reward:

1. SB 482 - $241 million Teacher Pay Raise – Provides a teacher pay raise. Moves starting teacher pay to $40,000 with a $3,000 raise at entry through four years. Years five-through-nine will receive $4,000; 10-14 years of experience will receive $5,000; and a teacher with 15+ years of experience will receive $6,000.

Reform:

1. SB 531 - Removed attendance metric on A-F report card and replace with school climate survey, which includes parents, students, and teachers/staff.
2. SB 527 – Puts more money toward kindergarten through third grade reading proficiency, with the ultimate goal being 100% reading proficiency for kids entering the fourth grade. Increases K-3 weights, special education weights, transportation weight, and gifted/talented, and socio-economic disadvantaged weights. *K-3 100% literacy rate. The last round of NAEP scores showed Oklahoma at 25% ELA assessments.
3. SB 523 – Learn Everywhere Bill – Recognize that learning takes place in non-traditional settings and allow for credit to include internships, externships, part-time jobs, or other non-classroom activities that directly contribute to learning and college or career advancement.
4. SB 516 - $1.5 million – Charter School Reform – Combine the virtual charter school board and charter school board. Add stricter accounting requirements, financial controls, and reporting criteria. Require any authorizer fee be expended on charter school oversight, provide training for charter school authorizers, and prevent authorizer ‘shopping’.  
5. SB 359 - $60M – Funding Formula – Move the funding formula ad valorem dollars to account for previous year actuals and not projected. All chargeables in the funding formula are based on actual numbers except for ad valorem dollars, that is based on a projection. This also accounts for potential ad valorem protests, which can withhold ad valorem dollars despite projected incoming money. Would predominantly protect rural schools.
6. SB 520 – Graduation Credits – Build 3 graduation tracks to include college, career, and core. Require four years of math and science for college track to increase STEM preparedness. Recognize that a career and core track can still pursue college and concurrent enrollment. Address Oklahoma’s lagging STEM standards and help build modern high-tech workforce. Opportunity to leverage many partnerships across private and public sector to include local businesses, higher education, career tech and more.
7. *Funding Request - Move to common Student Information System and update SDE accounting system $11 million – provide SDE and all school districts with technology upgrade to ensure seamless and standardized date entry system. Will also allow SDE to track how schools spend weighted dollars. For example, K-3 funding should be spent directly on K-3 students. There are federal requirements on funding but no such requirements on tracking accountability and transparency of state dollars in funding formula.