Lawmakers React To Merit Incentive Pay Proposal

State Superintendent Ryan Walters presented his budget in front of lawmakers Wednesday. One item on the agenda has garnered questions from both sides of the aisle.  

“Today was a great day because we got to see how we’re going to move the ball forward,” State Superintendent Ryan Walters said  

“Based on today’s hearing we’re not there yet and to quote the superintendent I look forward to continuing conversations on this subject,” House District 77 Representative John Waldron said.  

Several of those lawmakers were taken aback by one item specifically, a merit-based pay raise for teachers.  

“The big bombshell we learned today was that we aren’t going to be giving raises. If I understood the state superintendent correctly, his merit pay proposal is more like a stipend,” said Representative Waldron.   

The budget calls for a teacher-leader effectiveness rating and professional learning hours.  

State Superintendent Ryan Walters said a teachers incentive pay will reflect how many hours of training they complete.  

A stark difference from former Superintendent Joy Hofmeister's plan for a $5,000 pay raise across the board. 

“Representatives and Senators from both sides of the aisle had a lot of questions; how are we going to identify the teachers that get merit pay? What are going to be the standards? I’m not sure I was satisfied by the answers,” Waldron said.   

Waldron was an educator for decades before representing District 77 in Tulsa. He worries this won’t address the root of the issue, the teacher shortage. 

“By state law we aren’t allowed to lower a teacher’s salary once it’s increased but he said today, and it is my understanding, that teachers who receive the merit pay might not get it in the future. That means it is a stipend not a pay raise and it doesn’t go into retirement,” Waldron said.  

“It has been clear our best and brightest teachers have to be incentivized; they have to have the pay to support what they are doing in the classroom,” Walters said.