Thursday February 17, 2005
Pauls Valley Daily Democrat

OKLAHOMA CITY - Legislation to provide pay raises for teachers at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and the Oklahoma School for the Blind unanimously passed an appropriations subcommittee vote Monday.

House Bill 1435 would match the same pay raises approved by the Legislature last year for Oklahoma public school teachers. The measure received full approval from the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Human Services.

"Today's committee hearing was an important step in making sure these educators receive the full salary and benefits they deserve," said Rep. Wes Hilliard, who authored the bill. "These men and women devote themselves every day to a noble calling, and they need to be fully compensated for their efforts, just as the rest of our teachers are."

Hilliard is a freshman Democrat legislator from Sulphur, home of the Oklahoma School for the Deaf. He said that while researching the issue, he discovered that teachers at both the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and the Oklahoma School for the Blind had inadvertently been left out of the state teacher pay increase plan.

Legislation approved during the 2004 legislative session paid for 100 percent of teacher health insurance and outlined a plan increasing teacher pay over the next four years until it reaches the regional average of $38,527. Oklahoma's average teacher salary in 2004 stood at $34,877.

Under the current proposal, teachers with five to nine years of experience will receive annual raises of $600 over the next four years while educators with 20 to 24 years of experience will receive annual increases of $1,200.

The first increase in teacher pay is scheduled to go into effect this year at a cost of $48 million, with three more such raises scheduled over the three succeeding years.

Hilliard's bill would ensure that teachers at the Oklahoma School for the Deaf and the Oklahoma School for the Blind are included in that raise.

Both groups were omitted from last year's pay raise because the two schools receive their funding through the Department of Rehabilitation Services and not through the Department of Education.

Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, D-Ardmore, has agreed to sponsor the legislation in the Senate. As well, Rep. Barbara Staggs, D-Muskogee, has signed on as a House co-author. The Oklahoma school for the Blind is located in Staggs' district.

HB 1435 also states that any additional minimum salary schedule enacted by the Legislature shall meet or exceed and other legislatively mandated pay raises for teachers who are not part of the minimum salary schedule.