OKLAHOMA CITY (OBV) – The Oklahoma Senate Education Committee laid out a vigorous education agenda, promising to fight for teacher raises and career-readiness education that will help grow the state’s workforce.
Sen. Adam Pugh, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and Sen. Ally Seifried, the committee’s vice chair, held a news conference at the State Capitol on Monday, giving a detailed look at the legislation they are putting forward to improve education outcomes and grow the workforce by creating career paths that begin at the classroom.
Pugh, R-Edmond, and Seifried, R-Claremore, worked hard this past year to build an education agenda that will benefit students, teachers, and Oklahoma industries that need skilled workers. Much of that work involved visiting schools and talking with the teachers who educate Oklahoma’s children.
“Over the past few years, I think you’ve heard me talk a lot about going around the state and having the opportunity to meet with school leaders and school districts, to hear from parents and hear from educators, and even get feedback from students and student groups. That work continued again this past interim,” Pugh said. “I was very fortunate to be able to meet with over 250 school districts over the past six months and heard what was going on in different parts of the state and what was happening in classrooms, and what their needs were, and how we could communicate better with school district leaders.”
Pugh and Seifried visited with student groups, parent-led organizations and business leaders across Oklahoma.
“Those are individuals who are concerned about the future of our workforce, and they want to be a part of solving our workforce issues and helping our state continue to grow organically by keeping our best and brightest here in Oklahoma,” Pugh said.
The result of this extensive effort is an education agenda that includes 14 bills.
Senate Bill 201 is at the forefront of the education agenda. That bill gives Oklahoma public school teachers a significant pay raise.
“I think it is the most important thing to solve our teacher shortage,” Pugh said.
SB 201 sets a minimum $50,000 annual salary for public school teachers.
“Two years ago, the state of Arkansas set a minimum [salary] at $50,000. And we know now that our state’s neighbor to the east is cannibalizing our teacher workforce on our eastern border,” Pugh said.
There is a growing teacher shortage in Oklahoma, and keeping teachers in the classroom is the north star of the Education Committee’s efforts, Pugh said.
“We are thousands of teachers short in our state. I hear daily from school districts, large and small, about the number of vacancies they have. We’re four or five months into the school year, and there’s some large school districts that have over 100 vacancies. So we will continue to work on teacher pay, because we know that our neighboring states in all directions are focusing on the same,” Pugh said.
Increasing teacher salaries is not a one-and-done effort, Pugh said.
“Every year, we need to reevaluate the marketplace and make sure that we’re paying our teachers what their skillsets and the marketplace demands,” he said.
Providing students the skills they will need to gain a successful career and fill gaps in Oklahoma’s workforce will continue to be a top priority. Career-readiness education is essential in both K-12 and higher education, Pugh said.
“We will continue to work with our CareerTech system to provide resources to the programs that we know students want, and the programs that we know will turn around and impact communities, some for multiple generations,” Pugh said. “I want higher ed to remain laser focused on providing degree programs that skill their students to become employable when they leave those campuses. We know that we have certain jobs in our state that we have a workforce shortage, and higher ed has to be our partner in providing as much programing as possible to skill those individuals so that when they leave those institutions of higher ed, they’re able to get gainful employment.”
The Education Committee also wants to increase the amount of time students are in the classroom.
Senate Bill 409 seeks to increase the number of school days during the school year.
“The United States is falling behind both our allies and our enemies when it comes to the amount of time that our students spend in a classroom and in school. On average, the Western world spends over 200 days a year in school. Some of our allies go to school year-round, only taking small breaks throughout the year. On average, United States students spend 179 days in public schools. Oklahoma is at the bottom of that list. We, on average, spend 165 days in school. So, Senate Bill 409 calls for an extra one week of school,” Pugh said.
SB 409 comes with an additional $125 million to incentivize the increased classroom presence.
“I have spoken with parents, I have spoken with school leaders. They recognize that our kids need to be in a classroom more. And I think this is a big first step to enable that to happen,” Pugh said.
Pugh also highlighted a pair of bills that champion innovative learning in schools.
Senate Bill 243 requires the State Department of Education to launch the School Innovation Grant Program to provide grants to school districts to implement educational innovations.
It’s a grant that funds innovative education initiatives, Pugh said.
“The state will partner with you, and we will allow you to apply for a grant at the State Department of Education, and you will provide all the metrics that you want to be held accountable for with these dollars,” Pugh said.
Senate Bill 555 addresses the regulatory framework that gets in the way of educational innovation. This bill establishes the Education Regulatory Sandbox Program.
“It allows school districts to enter into individual negotiations with the State Department of Education, seeking relief from some particular regulatory burden that may be an administrative rule to the State Department of Education, or maybe a statute that we or our predecessors have enacted. The school district would negotiate away that burden in exchange for something, in exchange for some metric,” Pugh said.
Pugh said he wants education in Oklahoma to be bold and dynamic.
“But I want schools to step outside of their comfort zone and reimagine the way they serve kids. But we want to see performance. We want to see outcomes be elevated in this state,” he said.
Seifried said she is passionate about giving Oklahoma’s children a top-notch education.
“Over the last two years, I’ve really, really fallen in love with education. And I have a chip on my shoulder on making sure that it’s better by the time I leave here,” Seifried said. “I drive around my district, I look at my schools, and I look at the kids on the playground. I have a really, really heavy responsibility to make Oklahoma better for them.”
Seifried highlighted Senate Bill 6, which moves school board elections across the state to the November general election.
Moving school board elections to the general election will get more people voting on an important educational matter, Seifried said.
“We have essentially a single digit turnout in these elections, and I think it needs to be more reflective of the communities,” she said.
Seifried also filed Senate Bill 139, which restricts cell phones in classrooms from first school bell to the final bell.
“We know that when cell phones are in the classroom, students are distracted. Teachers are having to manage trying to make the cell phones go away, trying to teach their lesson plan, and the behavioral issues that are associated with them cause a lot of issues,” Seifried said. “We’ve seen anecdotal evidence, and we’ve even had some schools step forward in the state recently on behavioral issues going down, discipline issues going down when cell phones are out of the classroom.”
The entire slate of bills put forth by the Senate Education Committee for the upcoming legislative session is shared below:
- Senate Bill 201, written by Pugh, sets the starting salary for teachers at $50,000.00 and modifies other tiers of the minimum salary schedule to reflect the change.
- Senate Bill 6, written by Seifried, would move school board elections to the November general election ballot to increase voter turnout in these key races.
- Senate Bill 235, by Pugh, creates the Grow Your Own Educator Program to provide matching funds to eligible school districts and public school district foundations that provide tuition or loan repayment assistance to school district employees who pursue an undergraduate degree from an accredited teacher preparation program leading to a standard teaching certificate.
- Senate Bill 139, by Seifried, instructs all public school districts to adopt policies restricting student cell phone use from the first bell in the morning to the last bell of the school day. This would significantly limit distractions in the classroom and allow students to focus on their education.
- Senate Bill 244, by Pugh, establishes the School of American Civic Thought and Leadership at the University of Oklahoma to educate students in the principles, ideals, and institutions of the American political order.
- Senate Bill 215, by Seifried, proposes the Oklahoma Math Achievement and Proficiency Act to ensure students learn critical math skills. Under this legislation, schools would be required to periodically screen students in fourth through seventh grades on their math skills. Students exceeding grade-level targets will receive advanced instruction, while students who are falling behind will get help from specialized learning teams.
- Senate Bill 242, by Pugh, creates the Veterans Entering Teaching (VET) Act and the Veterans Entering Teaching (VET) Program to provide tuition and mandatory fee assistance to students to earn a degree from an approved teacher preparation program at an Oklahoma higher education institution if they agree to teach in an Oklahoma school district for three consecutive years.
- Senate Bill 7, by Seifried, creates the Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment Academy, which would provide tuition and fee assistance for college students enrolled in a teacher preparation program who commit to teaching a critical subject area in an Oklahoma public school.
- Senate Bill 796 prohibits institutions of higher education within The Oklahoma State System of Higher Education from utilizing state funds, property, or resources to support diversity, equity, and inclusion positions, departments, activities, procedures, or programs to the extent they grant preferential treatment based on race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.
- Senate Bill 212, by Seifried, creates a two-year pilot program called TeachForwardOK to evaluate the teacher education programs offered at Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities. This initiative would help these programs find innovative ways to recruit students while ensuring coursework aligns with workforce needs.
- Senate Bill 409, by Pugh, directs school districts to be in session and offer classroom instruction for an additional day at the beginning of each state fiscal year in which the amount appropriated for the financial support of public schools is at least $25 million greater than the amount appropriated for the prior fiscal year.
- Senate Bill 555, by Pugh, creates the Education Regulatory Sandbox Program. The measure authorizes a school district to apply for an exemption from a specific education-related statutory requirement or an administrative rule in exchange for the school district implementing an innovation intended to improve educational outcomes. It allows the exemption to be granted for 3 years. The bill requires school districts that are granted exemptions to submit annual progress reports. It allows a school district to apply for a 3-year renewal of the exemption. It also requires the State Department of Education to submit a report on the program to the Governor and legislative leaders after 3 years.
- Senate Bill 243, by Pugh, directs the State Department of Education to establish and maintain the School Innovation Grant Program to provide grants to school districts to implement educational innovations. It directs grant applications to be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. After an initial review, the bill directs representatives from the Department to meet with representatives of the applying school district to discuss the proposed innovation. It directs the Department to make grant recommendations to the State Board of Education, which is to approve or disapprove grant applications. The bill directs grant funds to be distributed to applying school districts with consideration for the average daily membership of the district. It directs the Department to collect information from grant recipients and submit a report on the program. The measure also creates the School Innovation Revolving Fund.
- Senate Bill 806, by Pugh, creates the Food is Medicine initiative to cover nutrition services for Medicaid beneficiaries. Under this act, the State Department of Education will also work with schools to expand student access to fresh, healthy food.
