State lawmakers will focus on finding more source of revenue for Oklahoma next session, some likely going to a stated goal of giving teachers a raise. State Treasurer Ken Miller has already put the kibosh on a couple proposals.
"There's been some ideas floated, I think even some bills filed. One, to take Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust fund money to pay for a teacher pay raise, another last year was to use the pension funds for a teacher pay raise," Miller said. "That's irresponsible. Those are not recurring revenue streams that will pay for a recurring expenditure."
TSET manages roughly $1 billion. It and its annual earnings are spoken for.
"The purpose, as the constitution says, which the people voted on, is to use that for health care initiatives," Miller said. "A teacher pay raise is not a health care initiative."
"Yes, there's some things that could be spent differently, but the mechanism is in place with the board to make those changes, not the legislature," Miller said. "The people took that away from the legislature for a reason."
In fiscal year 2015, the TSET endowment earned about $46.3 million, which was used on various health programs, including tobacco prevention.
TSET gets 75 percent of Oklahoma’s annual tobacco settlement payment, with the rest going to the legislature and attorney general. The legislature's cut works out to around $14.5 million.
