Senate Bill 1339 by Senate Education Chair Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, finalizes teacher pay raises of $3,000 to $6,000 approved by lawmakers in 2023. Pugh introduced the measure on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

“This is to reconcile the access to dollars that were calculated for teacher pay raise and allowing the state Department of Education to use those dollars for that pay raise,” Pugh said.

Pugh also presented SB 201, which raises the minimum salary schedule for teachers by another $2,000 this year, and SB 1189, which appropriates $50 million to the School Security Revolving Fund, to be split equally among all school districts in the state annually for the next three years.

“I’m all in on trying to figure out, whether it be through the funding formula, the teacher empowerment funds or other unique and innovative ways… to have a baseline of pay and funding dollars for school districts, but also reward schools really for growth,” Pugh said in defense of his proposals.

Some Republican lawmakers question budget impact

While the measures passed the Senate floor with overwhelming support from both parties, Pugh’s fellow lawmakers questioned their fiscal impact and whether paying teachers more actually improves educational outcomes.

Sen. Kendal Sacchieri, R-Blanchard, raised questions about the fiscal impact in light of a tight state budget this year, first regarding SB 1339.

“What is the estimated fiscal impact on this, including maybe projected costs in the first year and over the next couple of years?” Sacchieri asked.

Pugh said the measure has no fiscal impact this year because it makes existing appropriations available for disbursement on a more permanent basis. The attached dollar amount three years ago was $500 million.

Sacchieri also pressed the education chair about the cost of his other proposals, given this year’s projected budget shortfall. SB 201 allocates about $92 million from the General Revenue Fund for a $2,000 pay raise for teachers beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, wondered about the relationship between the money spent on teacher pay and any measurable improvements in student outcomes.

“What measurable outcomes are tied to this increase in spending?” Deevers said.

Pugh said his bills don’t specify any provable outcomes tied to teacher pay raises alone because raising teacher pay is part of a larger plan, along with his proposed investments in early reading and math intervention programs.

He added that the pay raises aim to keep experienced educators in classrooms long-term, as school districts across the state struggle with retention and are forced to fill gaps with emergency certified teachers with less experience and training.

“Having a qualified teacher in the classroom every single day is the number one factor in a child’s education,” Pugh said. “We’re actually bending that curve down in terms of the number of emergency certifications. I think our high water mark as a state was somewhere around 4,500 … emergency certifications. I think this year will probably end significantly below 4,000.”

Quiet for most of the discussion on the measures, Sen. Cari Hicks, D-Oklahoma City, took the opportunity during the debate of SB 201 to point towards the big-picture problem as she sees it.

“As we have heard that we’re bending the curve down on emergency certified individuals in our classrooms, that is accurate,” Hicks said. “There are currently 2,664 emergency certified in the 2025-2026 academic calendar year.”

But she said that, even with the upcoming investments, Oklahoma is still far behind other states in the region, such as Kansas, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri, in its per-student investment rate.

“We are $2.1 billion behind the regional investment per student,” Hicks said. “Salary is one component of whether or not our students have the resources… to meet their academic potential.”

And until more students reach that potential, she said, Oklahoma lawmakers must remain “laser-focused” on spending strategically to help its children get there.