House Bill 1415 - Teacher Pay Raise???

   There has been a very long line of teacher pay raise bills trotted out by lawmakers to impress the voting public. As many as 24 legislators have taken advantage of the fact that Oklahoma is near dead last in the nation for public school teacher pay, and slipping lower (actually accelerating) in the teacher pay "race to the bottom". Authoring teacher pay raise bills has certainly been a "gold mine" for legislators wanting teacher favor. If it weren't so sad, it would be almost comical watching state legislators stumble over themselves in trying to be the "one" who authors the biggest teacher pay raise plan. After reading most of the two dozen bills which could increase teacher pay, it becomes readily apparent that they all sound very good, but lack any established revenue stream to actually fund them - which is why most, if not all of the bills will "go up in smoke".
   House Bill 1415 is no exception to the rule, as far as being able to actually pay for it. Briefly, HB 1415 is an Act relating to schools which requires a school district to pay certain increased compensation to teachers under certain circumstances. According to the bill, the "circumstances" would be: ... if a school district incurs penalties for exceeding class size limitations..., such district shall be required to pay an increase in compensation to any teacher whose classroom has exceeded the class size limitations. The bill goes on to read ... provided that a teacher shall receive a minimum of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) for each student that exceeds the class size limitations set forth... and with total increased compensation not to exceed a maximum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000).
   First of all, the author of the bill should understand that all class size penalties have been waived for the past several years because of insufficient funding to schools. While it is not known if class size penalties will be waived for the 2017-2018 school year, it is an established fact that insufficient funding will continue unabated for the foreseeable future. Many public school funding experts predict that class size penalties will be re-instated next year, as many more elected legislators are now in favor of vouchers (sending public school funding to private and corporate charter schools) - and choking public schools is number one on the list for pro-voucher proponents.
   Secondly, public schools have been exceeding class size limits for the past several years hoping to "stay afloat" in the face of massive legislative budget cuts. As a matter of fact Oklahoma has cut public school funding by 27% over the past several years, which undeniably leads the nation - although many legislators continue to deny it. The class size limit is presently 20 students for elementary classes (grades pre-k through 6) in Oklahoma, and 140 students for sectioned classes in secondary schools (grades 7 through 12) with a few exceptions. Elementary schools in Oklahoma are frequently exceeding the 20 student limit right now. If, for example, an elementary school (grades Pre-K through 6) exceeded the 20 student limit in each grade (8) by 12 students (approximately 2 students per teacher), the teacher pay increase would amount to $2000 per teacher (96 extra students divided by 48 teachers). My gazintas are a little rusty, so someone check my math.. If the same schools secondary classes (6 grades) with an equal number of teachers (48) also received a $2000 increase, the school would  pay a total of $192,000 in additional teacher pay. Statewide, the required funding could be as high as $200 Million. Many citizens wonder what the source of this additional school funding will be... tax increases?, or some other legislative "shell game"? The kicker is that cash strapped schools will likely receive no additional funding for the teacher pay raise. More schools are likely to "go under" as a result of this corporate lawmaker's bill, as they can't afford the extra payroll, but they also can't afford the 20 student limit set by the same legislature. If this bill passes into law, legislators will be able to direct more and more of your tax dollars to out-of-state corporate charter schools and private schools.