Sen. Bergstrom, OCPA’s Hernandez: End Wind Subsidies For Teacher Pay
End wind subsidies for teacher pay
By Sen. Michael Bergstrom and Estela Hernandez
Voters rejected State Question 779 on Nov. 8, but Oklahoma’s classroom teachers still need a raise.
Surveys consistently show the public supports increasing teacher pay, even if they opposed SQ 779’s package of tax hikes and increased spending for other programs. Thankfully, there’s a better way to finance a teacher pay raise: end wasteful tax credit subsidies for the wind Industry.
According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, $113 million in zero-emission tax credits were claimed — largely by wind companies — during Fiscal Year 2014. That $113 million could provide an additional $2,600 to the more than 42,000 classroom teachers in Oklahoma.
By ending tax credits for wind companies — 93 percent of which are located out of state or overseas in countries like Spain, Portugal and South Korea — the state would get more than half way to funding a $5,000 teacher pay raise. And this is if the cost of these subsidies were to stay at $113 million per year.