Legislative Agenda

Attain regionally competitive teacher salaries (a $2,000 salary increase) that reward:

• Teaching experience
• Higher degrees
• Certification attainment
• Working in hard-to-staff subject areas or locations

Provide funding for mandated $1,000 salary increases for school support professionals

Provide health insurance benefits that are equal to what legislators and state employees receive.

Increase the OSEEGIB/EBC Board to include representatives from the retired and active education and state employee groups.

Ensure a sound Teacher Retirement System that provides fair COLA’s and increased health insurance subsidies.

Develop a teacher working conditions survey – This tool will empower school district and site personnel to adequately assess the instructional culture in each school. “A teacher’s working conditions are a student’s learning conditions.”

Increase time during the student day – Teachers must have time to plan, collaborate, and learn in order to have a successful learning community.

Empower teachers and improve instructional quality through professional development – Teachers face a more diverse student population than ever before. Many of today’s students do not speak English fluently. Poverty presents great challenges and teachers need the skills and knowledge to ensure success for all.

Allow flexibility in school assignments – We must have teachers in all our schools – particularly in our highest needs schools – who have a desire and calling to work in challenging environments.

Institute a two-year teacher mentoring program – More than 35% of our newest teachers have come to teaching through alternative certification avenues and need support to better teach Oklahoma students. All new teachers must have quality professional mentoring in order to provide quality instruction and support to stay in teaching.

Create teacher charters – Teachers and groups that represent school employees should be empowered to open teacher-directed charter schools. We need to increase the ability of teachers and support professionals to have input into school-decision making. Let’s expand charters to provide alternative avenues to help deal with chronic classroom discipline issues.

Require all district expenditures to be placed on the district’s website.

Implement the Longitudinal Data system as proposed in SB 222.

Provide adequate operations funding to enable districts to have textbooks, technology, instructional materials, supplies and transportation funding.

Provide funding to keep our schools clean, comfortable and safe for all our students.

Provide funding so that our students can receive the additional instruction they need to meet the ACE requirements.

Require that class sizes be small enough to allow for the individual attention our students need. Core classrooms should not exceed 10 pre-K students, 20 students in grades K-6, and no instructor should be responsible for educating more 120 students in grades 7-12.

OEA's Legislative Agenda

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