Gov. Mary Fallin is proposing $178 million for a permanent $3,000 pay raise for public school teachers in Oklahoma. She also wants lawmakers to consolidate the administrative costs of some schools.
A coalition of Oklahoma educators and civic leaders has proposed an initiative petition for a statewide vote on a new one-cent sales tax for public education to raise teacher salaries and address a chronic teacher shortage in the state. Fallin says her proposal would provide pay raises without raising taxes. Several lawmakers have proposed separate measures to raise teacher salaries without raising taxes.
