After a spirited round of questioning, an Oklahoma House subcommittee approved a Senate bill to remove a matching-fund requirement for school districts to provide pay raises for their top teachers.

Senate Bill 1256, authored by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, passed by an 11-3 vote after Rep. Chad Caldwell, R-Enid, expressed concerns about the amount of money some school districts were keeping as fund balances in their accounts and what might happen when the $22 million allocated for the program expires.

The bill was approved by Appropriations and Budget subcommittee and will be heard next by the full House Appropriations and Budget Committee. If approved there, it will head to the House floor for consideration. It’s already passed in the Senate.

The “Teacher Empowerment Fund,” approved last year by the Legislature, receives state lottery money. It provides for raises of between $3,000 and $10,000 for teachers identified by their districts as “advanced,” “lead” or “master” teachers. No more than 10% of any district’s teachers can be chosen for the empowerment program.

As far back as January, during a pre-session budget hearing, Pugh, chairman of the Senate Education Appropriations Sucommittee, expressed concern with the lack of school districts taking advantage of the program. During that hearing, state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters testified only about $225,000 of the $22 million has been used and said only 12 of the state’s more than 500 school districts had applied for the program.

Pugh has said district superintendents have cited two reasons for not participating — one, the district must pay for half of the increased salary, and two, the 10% limit. During the January hearing, he chastised superintendents for using those excuses not to identify their top teachers and apply for the program. He said a dedicated funding stream had been identified and that removing the matching provision from the bill would eliminate one of those excuses.

House Education Committee chair Rep. Rhonda Baker, R-Yukon, is sponsoring the bill in the House and said during Monday’s meeting the bill “has been a request from numerous districts … they felt like (the matching requirement) was a burden to place on them. Those were the words that I was told.”

Should school districts pay their share of teacher raises?

Caldwell said Oklahoma school districts have more than $4 billion in so-called carryover funds. Those fund balances are intended to keep the districts solvent during times when money isn’t flowing into the district, noted Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City. Fugate said the Legislature used to have a cap on the amount that districts could maintain in carryover funds, but that cap was removed during the COVID-19 pandemic when federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief) funds became available to districts.

Caldwell acknowledged some of the fund balance total included money for building projects, but wondered why districts couldn’t use some of that money to fund their portion of the teacher raises.

“I don’t think anybody is hoarding money, but … collectively, it’s $4 billion across the state, which is more than we appropriate to the entire system on an annual basis,” Caldwell said. “I’m not sure I agree we need a (fund) balance just to make sure when the money comes in. The national average of states, the investment in the classroom about 61%. We hover in the low to mid 50s. Some districts are in the 40s.

“The Legislature has done an incredible job of investing in the schools. I think many of our districts want to do that. But, candidly, I loved the original bill. I think it’s a great concept. I just am concerned that we do have districts that can invest (in these raises) and when the state takes that portion on … we’re never going to get it back.”

He said it “was a great question for some of the district leadership to answer, why they won’t make those decisions” to invest in teachers and support staff. “We do it up here every day.”

Baker said she once had similar concerns about making sure districts joined the Legislature in funding the raises.

“That is certainly the opinion that I was with when we started this bill. … I cannot speak for every district,” Baker said. “I don’t know what the burdens are that they feel like they are under. I just know that my Senate counterpart feels like it’s something that is worth taking away to make this a much more appetizing motivation for districts to utilize it.”

Asked by Caldwell what happens when the lottery money that funds the program dries up, Baker said that would be a decision for future legislators.

Rep. Neil Hays, R-Muskogee, and Rep. Cody Maynard, R-Durant, joined Caldwell in voting against the bill.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Teacher Empowerment Fund receives boost with committee vote