Texas recruiting Oklahoma teachers

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A Texas education report shows more than 18-hundred certified teachers in Oklahoma applied for credentials in Texas during a three-year period. <br><br>The report shows Oklahoma was

Thursday, August 22nd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A Texas education report shows more than 18-hundred certified teachers in Oklahoma applied for credentials in Texas during a three-year period.

The report shows Oklahoma was the largest out-of-state provider of teachers to Texas between 1998 and 2000.

Oklahoma teacher certification official Ramona Paul says officials knew teachers were leaving the state for Texas. But she says they didn't know the number was so high.

Paul says deans from Oklahoma colleges say many students don't even apply for Oklahoma certification because they know they're going to Texas.

She says students are interested in dollars.

Starting salaries in some Texas school districts are as high as 34-thousand dollars. That compares to 27-thousand in Oklahoma.