Teacher Pay And Tax Cuts

Monday, May 14th 2007, 6:04 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- In a test of political wills, Governor Brad Henry and Republican legislative leaders are facing off over two commanding issues that could determine whether they agree on a state budget before lawmakers adjourn next week or whether they return in a special budget-writing session next month.

For Henry, who has been described as the "education governor," the issue is fulfilling a promise to raise teacher salaries in Oklahoma to the regional average to recruit and retain quality educators.

Henry is insisting that teachers receive across-the-board raises of about $1,000 -- more than the Republican-dominated Legislature has offered to spend.

For GOP leaders, the issue is tax cuts. House Speaker Lance Cargill and Senate co-President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee want the governor to sign into law a package of tax cuts approved by the House and Senate. Monday is the deadline for Henry to either sign or veto the bill.

Among other things, the tax-cut legislation would accelerate three years of income tax cuts into two, provide a tax credit for stay-at-home parents and create a three-day sales tax holiday in August for back-to-school items. It would reduce revenue next year by about $15 million and would cost about $74 million a year when fully implemented.

The seemingly unrelated issues have become intertwined as Henry and lawmakers negotiate a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Cargill and Coffee have suggested that Henry is threatening to veto the tax-cut measure in order to win their support for his teacher pay raise plan.

Cargill, R-Harrah, said signing the bill would be a demonstration of good faith by the Democratic governor and warned that a veto would have negative consequences for the budget talks.

"If he vetoes the tax cuts -- highly problematic," Cargill told The Associated Press. "If he vetoes the tax cut bill, that's a line-in-the-sand approach."

If a special session is required, it would mark the second time in as many years that a budget would not be in place before the Legislature ended its four-month regular session. Lawmakers must adjourn by May 25.

Lawmakers met in special session for three days in June 2006 to approve a $7.1 billion budget and the largest tax cut in state history, totaling $623.7 million when fully implemented.

State agencies will run out of money if a new budget is not in place when the 2007 fiscal year ends on June 30.

GOP leaders have been on the offensive since March when Henry vetoed much of a $6.9 billion budget plan that was negotiated by the House and Senate without his input.

That budget plan included a $600 annual pay raise for state teachers, about half of the $1,100 raise Henry proposed in his executive budget. Raising the salaries of Oklahoma's 46,500 certified teachers by $600 would cost about $32 million a year, according to the Oklahoma Education Association.

Oklahoma is in the fourth year of a five-year program to increase teacher salaries, and Henry wants to raise teacher salaries another $2,000 a year by next year to meet the goal of achieving the regional average, said communications director Paul Sund.

"Governor Henry feels strongly that we made an ironclad promise to teachers that we would raise their salaries to the regional average. And it's critical that we keep the promise," Sund said. "We set a five-year goal -- and time's running out."

The average teacher salary in Oklahoma this year is $42,124, according to the Oklahoma Education Association. The average teacher salary in the region this year is about $43,600, according to calculations by The Associated Press based on average teacher salary figures provided by state teacher associations in Oklahoma and its six border states: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas.

Oklahoma ranked 48th in the nation in teacher salaries last year -- last in the region. This year, the state's average salary is lower than all other states in the region except one -- Missouri.

Henry's push for an across-the-board teacher pay increase is supported by the OEA, said executive director Lela Odom.

The Republican plan for $600 raises would apply only to the 26% of teachers who are on the state minimum salary schedule and most teachers may see no salary increase, Odom said.

"Our standing in the regional average is not going to go up," she said. "Those teachers at the higher end that bring the averages up are not going to get anything."

But Cargill said that even with the smaller $600 raise, the Legislature will have pumped about $229 million a year into teacher pay over three years -- the largest percentage teacher pay increase in the nation.

Lawmakers originally agreed to increase teacher salaries by a total of $4,800 a year. The Legislature approved a $1,200 increase in 2005 and $3,000 last year. Another $600 would complete the commitment, Cargill said.

"There's been huge investment in teacher pay," he said. "I think the taxpayers are entitled to a cooling off period."

Whatever pay raise plan is finally approved this year, Cargill said he will demand that future negotiations on teacher pay raises be tied to merit and teacher performance.

He said across-the-board raises such as those proposed by Henry do not give teachers incentive to improve their skills and classroom results.

The House speaker said he plans to launch a yearlong study this summer that will focus on performance standards and merit pay concepts for teachers.

"I'm for teacher pay increases 100%. Simply focusing on the amount of teacher pay is not enough," Cargill said. "Merit and performance must be a component of those increases."

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