A proposal for a $6,000 teacher pay raise over three years moved forward in the Oklahoma Senate this week.
That includes a $1,000 raise next year. How likely is it that will happen?
"Right now, not very. I think — still think — we end up with a framework to move forward, but we've got a lot of ground to make up in just the normal budget before we start spending more money," said Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz.
Schulz said lawmakers are passing the measure to keep a vehicle for teacher raises alive, but the language is likely to change.
"If anybody's looking at a piece of legislation right now — and it's one that is having this much discussion — and doesn't think that those words in that bill are not going to change, that's not being truthful," Schulz said.
A $1,000 raise will cost the state $53 million a year. The measure calls for a $2,000 raise the following year and a $3,000 raise the third year.
Schulz has consistently said the money isn’t there.<
"There's not one silver bullet that's going to make up for the budget woes, budget shortfall, the hole that we're in," Schulz said. "It's going to have to be multiple sources, multiple ideas, including revenue-raising measures, including apportionment reform, including agency cuts. To say, 'What is the ideal?' There's not an ideal."
