ENID, Okla. — Oklahoma Education Association President Katherine Bishop said she is excited about school funding approved during the 2023 legislative session.
“The $678 million given to public education by the Legislature is historic,” Bishop said. “The money going into professional pay and directly into the classroom is what we need to attract and keep teachers.”
Bishop said across the board, Oklahoma still is last in the region, but the new funding is a huge step in the right direction.
“This legislative session was focused on education, and more time was spent on the issues than ever before,” Bishop said.
She applauded the Legislature’s hard work and said she hopes it continues.
She said in the past there have been bumps in funding, then it floats along until it gets bad again. This time, the Legislature approached pay according to years of tenure so teachers know what to expect if they choose to stay in Oklahoma.
There is a minimal salary schedule available on all Oklahoma school websites that anyone can access.
In regard to comments made from the campaign trail, Bishop insists Oklahoma has great teachers.
One of them is Rebecca Peterson, a high school math teacher from Tulsa. Previously a college math teacher, she teaches math and calls herself a good storyteller who engages her students.
Not only was she elected Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, but the National Teacher of the Year as well.
“She is a great example of our Oklahoma teachers and we have many,” Bishop said.
Bishop said the issue of the Catholic Church having a taxpayer-supported virtual charter school in Oklahoma will be a test case for the nation. She said she is not in favor of the school and said Oklahoma parents already have made a choice of where to send their children.
“We have over 700,000 parents making a choice of having their kids in public schools,” she said. “Parents are part of a community they know and choose, so we need to do everything we can to strengthen public education.”
Merit pay, or performance pay, is another issue being promoted by some in education. Bishop said currently there is no teacher evaluation or standard-based program that gives an equitable way to measure performance.
“We are a service industry dealing with human beings that come to us with all types of challenges,” Bishop said.
Oklahoma previously participated in the National Board Certification program. A teacher who achieved the certification would receive an additional $5,000 a year.
The certification had to be retaken every five years, she said, to continue to promote continued skills of teachers. The program was gutted in 2013 and not refunded, she said.
Recently at an Enid Rotary Club meeting, State Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters said 700 teachers have come to Oklahoma because of a new bonus program. Bishop said she has not seen this information and has heard Walters say 200, but said she is uncertain of the validity of either number.
“This is a very narrow group of teachers we are talking about who are fully certified in special education or early childhood,” Bishop said.