Oklahoma’s education superintendent has vowed that she will fight for a ballot measure that would provide $5,000 raises to Oklahoma’s teachers, reports NewsOK.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister indicated that she will support the legislation even though the measure isn’t ideal. Hofmeister said something must be done to address Oklahoma’s shrinking pool of teachers.
Speaking Wednesday in Owasso, the superintendent it shouldn’t be left up to voters to raise teacher salaries, insisting that’s the job of the state legislature. But Oklahoma’s state lawmakers neglected to raise teacher pay last session. And now the voters have a measure before them in November that calls for a 1 percent sales tax hike to fund the pay increases.
“Three -hundred thousand Oklahoma petition-signers have made their will known,” Hofmeister said, adding, “We will now see what happens with the voters when November comes around.” The superintendent said if the measure fails she won’t stop fighting for teacher raises.