State Lawmakers to Combat Teacher Shortage With Recruitment, Retention Bills

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — In this upcoming legislative session state lawmakers will introduce several bills to help with teacher recruitment and retention.

It’s the latest effort from lawmakers as State Superintendent Ryan Walters introduced his proposed plan earlier this month.

Walters says every state is reporting teacher shortages. He furthered, stating that it is essential to be innovative and think outside the box as we compete with other states for teachers.

“We still do not have as many teachers as we need in our classrooms,” said Walters.

It’s been an issue for years and state lawmakers and Walters are hoping their plans can help solve the problem.

Sen. Adam Pugh filed a bill that would pay veterans’ schooling to become educators if they agree to teach in the state for three consecutive years.

Sen. Ally Seifried also filed a bill regarding the issue that creates the Oklahoma Teacher Recruitment Academy.

It would provide tuition and mandatory fee assistance to individuals to earn a bachelor’s degree from an accredited teacher preparation program if they commit to teaching in a public school in one of the critically short subjects identified by the State Department of Education.

“I even see it as an even bigger issue if you want those talented individuals to not only be recruited in, but we got to retain them, we don’t want to lose high-quality people either,” said Walters.

Walters says his ‘Back to Basics’ plan will not just recruit quality teachers but also retain them.

“With our Back to Basics plan, what we’re really doing is putting Oklahoma on the path to get our kids to be successful, help the kids that need to catch back up, and get them on grade level,” said Walters.

To carry out this plan, he introduced his $3.97 billion budget plan to the legislature that would include a blend of signing bonuses to get the best and brightest math and science teachers to our schools.

Something Walters says is different from the incentives offered last year.

“Last year, what we did is we took on the two biggest areas of the teacher shortage, which were special ed teachers and reading teachers,” said Walters.

“This year, what we want to do is do the same type of incentive for math and science teachers,” said Walters.

The legislative session starts on February 5 for state senators to introduce their bills.

As for Walter’s plan, the legislature will have the final say over his proposed budget.