Okla. House Approves Stitt's Education Plan

At the Capitol, following months of disagreement between the two chambers, the house made a bold step to get an $800 million education package pushed through.

On the House door today, representatives stripped the language of a Senate bill and discussed amending two House bills in a committee. 

“We are making education a priority,” said Rep. Rhonda Baker (R-Yukon).

What started as a bill for substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling is now a teacher pay raise bill. 

“What happened here was a midnight replacement, what we call a shucking of a bill that did subject A in order to achieve object B,” said Rep. John Waldron (D-Tulsa).

“It’s all manipulating the process to get what you want done,” said Rep. Forrest Bennett (D-OKC).

Senate bill 561 is now a scaled teacher pay raise from $2,000 to $5,000 based on years of experience. Teachers in their first 0-5 years will get up to $2,000; 6-10 years will get $3,000; 11-15 will get $4,000 and 16-20 will get a $5,000 raise. 

“This addresses the House priority which is that every teacher in the state of Oklahoma will see an increase in their income,” said Rep. Baker.

This bill will be attached to two other bills, public school funding and tax credits for private and homeschool families. 

“We have a bill that’s been tied, chain gang style, to a measure that will likely give affluent families a big healthy tax credit,” said Rep. Waldron. 

Democrats shared many reasons for opposing this, saying they don’t know the fiscal impact.

“How much is it going to cost? How can you ask us to vote on such fiscal irresponsibility Mr. Speaker,” said Rep. Melissa Provenzano (D-Tulsa).

House democrats have also been calling for a clean teacher pay raise bill not attached to tax credits.

“This tells them (teachers) -hey, if you’re lucky, and we get the voucher scheme passed, then you get a raise,” said Rep. Ranson.

The bill passed through the House and now heads over to the Senate. 

“For those on this side of the aisle- thank you for standing with me, making education a priority, making teachers a priority,” said Rep. Baker. 

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat said in a statement, “We have already communicated to the House and governor that this isn’t going to pass in the Senate. They are playing games and giving false hope,” Pro Tem Greg Treat said.

House members discussed amendments to HB1935 and HB2775 in a committee today. 

They discussed amending the public funding bill to give $300 million into the funding formula, about $250 million of that will go towards teacher pay raises.

Representatives also discussed amending the tax credit bill to give $5,000 per private school child and $1,000 per homeschool family, with an income cap of $250,000 per household.

Those bills are expected to be heard on the House floor in the coming days.