Different bills being tossed around are intended to improve teaching outcomes, which has politicos asking how to best encourage teachers to stay in the field.
Local political leaders agree that having well-paid teachers who stay in the profession is the best way to improve student performance.
In 2020, Oklahoma Watch reported that starting Tahlequah Public Teachers make $32,621, and the average salary was $43,490. Those numbers fall in line with other school districts in the county.
State Sen. Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee, is sponsoring HB 3564, which would require State Regents for Higher Education to establish a scholarship program to incentivize students to go into the teaching field. He also said fixing the teacher shortage is complicated, and that there is no silver bullet to address it.
“There’s no question that we have a teacher shortage, and much of that came over the last decade from 2007-2017. We dropped to fourth in the region for teacher pay,” said Pemberton. “That’s been four years. Things have slipped. We are behind Texas and Colorado. It’s getting time to look at teacher pay raises.”
Oklahoma Watch reported that in 2020, the state average was $54,096, ranking it 34th in the nation.
Pemberton believes Oklahoma’s problem is that the profession itself has been downgraded.
“Parents don’t respect teachers. Constituents don’t respect them. The catch phrase was ‘those that can, do, and those who can’t, teach,’” he said. “It’s definitely not true, and that’s hurt the profession.”
Pemberton also said the Oklahoma General Education Test needs to be modified or replaced with a test that focuses on specific teaching fields.
“We give three tests for teachers to become certified. OGET is nothing more than an ACT test to test skills in area subjects. If I’m a math teacher, I may not need to study for English,” he said.
State Rep. Bob Ed Culver, R-Tahlequah, said it takes a special person who wants to become a teacher. He said when his grandma taught in school, she arrived at 8 a.m. and left by 3 p.m., and that the school district didn’t throw additional responsibilities on her.
”Now they stay until 5-6 at night. Teachers are asked not only to educate, but to be parents, councilors, and referees. It’s hard being a teacher. We are trying to do all we can to make it where it’s a profession people want to go into,” he said.
Culver said an educated society is a prosperous one, and that Oklahoma needs to do a better job at supporting education.
Yolette Ross, Cherokee County Democratic Party chair, said that since the pandemic, retirement is up, which has led children to be taught by those who are working under emergency certification.
“Education is optimized when children are educated by highly qualified individuals at all grade levels. The state can restructure salaries and give them competitive health benefits, increase retirement, and that will lend to teachers staying in the job longer. Our teachers are grossly underpaid,” said Ross.
She said teachers are trying to get by. Opening the door for emergency certifications has also led many to teach who are not qualified to do so, and have not taken classes in pedagogy.
Oklahoma students who want to become teachers are also more likely abandoning the state.
“As soon as the kids graduate, they run off to another state where salaries are better,” she said.
Dell Barnes, Cherokee County Democratic Party vice chair, has observed that the teacher shortage has also created larger classrooms, which affects student outcomes.
“We demonstrably have a teacher storage when some classrooms designed for 24 kids are being made to seat 30. This is becoming all too common in our public schools, despite the use of emergency certifications or penalties for overloading classrooms. The Legislature would do well to remember that teachers are professional workers and are due a respectful salary and work environment for their services,” said Barnes.
Cherokee County Republican Party Chair Steve Hall did not return queries by press time.
