Title: Cost-of-living doesn't make up for Oklahoma's low teacher pay - Oklahoma Policy Institute
Headings: Cost-of-living doesn’t make up for Oklahoma’s low teacher pay
Cost-of-living doesn’t make up for Oklahoma’s low teacher pay
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Content: Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas all have a cost-of-living within 2 or 3 percentage points of Oklahoma. But their starting pay is in many cases thousands of dollars more. As one Arkansas principal, who himself left Oklahoma in 2000, told the Tulsa World, “I hired two just this year from small districts just over the [Oklahoma] border — Westville and Oaks Mission. The pay is definitely better.” Lawmakers are feeling pressure to do something about Oklahoma’s mounting teacher shortage, but they haven’t shown any willingness to stop cutting taxes, much less to find new revenue to close our state’s growing budget gap . In this context, it’s not surprising to see excuses pop up for why we don’t need to find the money. The excuses don’t stand up to reality. Share This: ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gene Perry // media@okpolicy.org
Gene Perry worked for OK Policy from 2011 to 2019. He is a native Oklahoman and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.