Barresi: 2K for Teachers Is Easy Math

2K for Teachers Is Easy Math

September 17, 2013

OKLAHOMA CITY (Sept. 17– Although hundreds of millions of dollars are available, some members of the liberal education establishment claim they can’t possibly give Oklahoma teachers a raise or stipend.

I don’t buy it. And neither should you. The numbers back me up. Over the past two years, the amount of carryover has surged to more than $771 million. Yet some school administrators claim they can’t put more money into classrooms without taking more money from taxpayers. But even after using 10 percent of carryover to boost teacher salaries, Oklahoma schools would still have a record amount in the bank.

My plan to take 10 percent of carryover money and combine it with a 2 percent re-prioritization of overhead to give Oklahoma teachers an extra $2000 in pay will work for the vast majority of school districts.

Before asking taxpayers for more funding, schools need to show they are spending the money we have in the best way possible. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, Oklahoma schools only get 57.2 percent of education dollars to the classroom — we can and must do better, and it must start with teacher pay.

In addition to balking at using a small percentage of record carryover in the classroom, administrators are also insisting that a 2 percent re-prioritization in overhead can only come in the form of across-the-board cuts. Some even suggest the only way to reduce overhead is to cancel bus service or fire speech pathologists and nurses, mimicking Obama administration tactics whenever anyone suggests federal spending should be reduced.

Those claims are scare tactics, not serious arguments.

Every day, we ask students to come up with creative solutions to challenges. Surely, we can ask adults to do the same thing. I’ve done it. I’ve cut administrative overhead in my department by $250,000 a month – 28 percent of our total overhead. Asking Districts to find 2 percent of their overhead to give to teachers is not asking too much.

And my request is just that: a plea for our schools to make classroom funding a priority. It’s not a mandate. If schools prefer to call the additional pay a stipend or bonus instead of a raise, fine. My goal is clear: put more money in the hands of Oklahoma teachers.

If these school administrators and superintendents don’t see a need to increase teacher pay, they can go on doing business as usual. But I believe that, next to a parent, a really good teacher is the most important influence in a student’s life. So we need to focus our resources on hiring and keeping the best teachers here in our schools.

My priority is better teachers in the classroom. I’m asking our Superintendents and Districts to join me.

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