Walters announces teacher bonuses

Apr. 27—WARNER — New or returning special education or early childhood teachers can receive a signing bonus of up to $50,000 under a program announced by the Oklahoma Department of Education.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced the bonuses during a round-table discussion involving students, teachers and community members Wednesday afternoon.

"One of the things we have seen in the state of Oklahoma is that so many times, districts have had trouble attracting teachers and retaining teachers," Walters said. "What we are going to announce today is the biggest signing bonus in the country, up to $50,000 to teach in the highest need areas —special education and pre-kindergarten through third grade."

Walters also said applications are open for the Teacher Empowerment Program, which provides pay increases for teachers earning district "advanced," "lead" and "master" certificates. The program, which offers a state match to a district raise, is open to 10 percent of a district's teachers.

"This allows superintendents to pay teachers above their base pay with a match from the state," he said. "I see teachers today who are wearing multiple hats. We want to make sure you're compensated for these things."

Warner fourth-grade teacher Pam White, a faculty panelist, said the incentive to attract teachers for third grade and lower could cause discomfort with other teachers.

Walters said the bonuses are targeted to the hardest positions to fill — early education and special education.

"We give a big signing bonus to deal with that particular issue," he said. "But that being said, we have to take care of the teachers in the classroom right now. Which is why we have to have a comprehensive pay raise. The teachers in the classroom that are doing an exceptional job also need to get a significant pay bonus right now."

Walters also encouraged White to apply for the teacher empowerment program.

High school/middle school history teacher Zach Kinsey asked if teachers would have to do more work to qualify for the teacher empowerment program. He said he also teaches drivers education and drives a school bus.

"I'm finishing up my 19th year of teaching and in a few years, I'm not going to be earning any more," Kinsey said. "Every year, inflation is going up. If I want to finish out my career, I'm going to be losing wages every year."

Lawmakers from both parties on Wednesday said they hadn't been briefed about the specifics of the State Department of Education's new teacher recruitment initiative.

State Rep. Mark McBride, R-Moore, who chairs the House's education budget committee, said he wasn't familiar with the specifics of Walters' plan, but said he supports any plans to recruit teachers and give them a raise.

But, he's concerned that Walters' sign-on bonus plan doesn't do anything to incentivize existing teachers to remain in the classroom.

McBride said lawmakers already have passed legislation and created policies aimed at getting more students to pursue education and begin their teaching careers in Oklahoma.

What's most needed now is a plan to maintain Oklahoma's existing education workforce, or what he refers to as the "teachers in the middle." He said the focus needs to shift to existing teacher retention.

"I'm all for getting new teachers, but we're not doing anything to retain teachers," McBride said.

State Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, said Democrats have been pressing for sign-on bonuses for a long time. He said Walters' plan is one of the most positive things to come out of the state Department of Education since the superintendent took office in January.

"Anything that helps is good, but there's some cracks in his plan for sure," Rosecrants said.

Rosecrants, a former teacher, said the sign-on bonus plan does nothing to incentivize existing teachers to remain in Oklahoma schools.

Also, he said there's a massive amount of distrust and skepticism about any plans coming from the State Department of Education. There are also questions about how it would work, how districts would be able to afford matching dollar requirements and whether the state agency plans to run such a program long term.

"Are we going to say the problem is fixed (when) basically all we did was put a bandaid on the big issue," he said.

Rosecrants also said local districts likely won't be able to afford any matching dollar requirements without additional legislative appropriations, and he doesn't like that the State Department of Education plans to make districts responsible for recouping funds from any educators that don't fulfill the terms of the their five-year agreements.

Still, he said Walters' plan should be "a piece of a larger puzzle" to recruit and retain the best and brightest educators to public school classrooms.

Walters said he chose to make his teacher incentive announcement at Warner Public Schools because of the district's exemplary scores reported last week on the School Report Card issued by the Department of Education.

Warner School Superintendent David Vinson said the elementary school and high school both got overall grades meriting an A.

"We really do teach bell to bell," he said. "We don't waste any time within our school. We have students who have bought in and work really hard, and we've got teachers that go above and beyond to make sure our students are successful. It's not uncommon at all for our teachers to give up time in the morning before school, time after school, give up their lunch time to work with students and help them achieve academic success."

Vinson said Warner Schools earned 10 A's on state report cards over the past 10 years.

Walters is the second state school superintendent to visit Warner within the past 10 years. Then-State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister visited the school in 2017 to see how the district managed to keep scoring well on school report cards.

SIGNING BONUS PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

—Less than three years experience: $15k; rural or high poverty district: $20k

—Three+ years experience: $25k; rural or high poverty district: $30k

—Five+ years experience and teaching in a rural or high poverty district: $50k

—Five+ years experience teaching special education: $50k

Contract stipulations

—Teachers must commit to teaching five years in a critical shortage area (grades PK-3 or PK-12 special education) in an Oklahoma school.

—Teachers who leave their teaching position before the five-year period will be required to pay back a pro-rated amount to their districts.

Eligible teachers

—Newly certified teachers (with less than 3 years experience) in grades PK-3 or special education PK-12

—Returning certified teachers in grades PK-3 or special education PK-12. Returning is defined as retired teachers, teachers who left the profession, or career changers.

—Out-of-state certified teachers in grades PK-3 or special education PK-12.

TEACHER EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

—Three new teacher certification designations: Advanced, lead, and master.

—Districts can nominate and approve up to 10 percent of their eligible teachers.

—The Teacher Empowerment Revolving Fund is provided through annual appropriations made by the Legislature from the Oklahoma Lottery Commission, from profits in excess of the $65M in base Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust.

—Teachers can earn a minimum of $3,000 from their local district, with a maximum of $40,000 in annual incentive salary, depending on the designation level and funding availability.

—Teachers may receive the corresponding state match, not to exceed $40,000, to the district allotment, given that there is available funding remaining.

Source: Oklahoma Department of Education.