Teacher Walkout At Oklahoma Capitol

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

      

Teachers Descend On Capitol, What I Told Them

I admit it, I urged teachers to return to the classroom and take care of their students.

On Monday, teachers from across Oklahoma came to the State Capitol. Some came to thank legislators for passing major education legislation. Many, however, came to express their demands for more tax increases and education funding.

I met with a large group of educators in the early afternoon.

Here’s a brief summary of what was discussed during that 45 or 50 minute gathering.

I was asked if I support education and teachers.

I pointed out that I spent around 20 years in the classroom, that one of my campaign promises was to fight for a teacher raise, and one of my first bills was for a teacher raise. I have repeatedly voted for tax increases to fund education and raises. I and many of my fellow freshman Senators refused to approve last year’s budget bill unless common education was held harmless.

I think that demonstrates where I stand.

What about the hotel tax?

I said it would be repealed and we are already setting things in place to replace those funds, and not by cutting other agencies.

Is the teacher pay raise being cut?

No. The education budget has been signed by the Governor.

Will there be more funding for education?

Not much this session.  But the Senate Republican caucus and I are committed to developing a long range plan for education and its funding. I am certainly open to suggestions on that.

Would I support more tax increases?

No. I am interested in getting rid of wasteful tax credits.

And, in my opinion, we are done raising taxes in the Senate.

What about funds for leaking roofs or dilapidated buildings?

I pointed out those things are not state funded, but capital expenditures paid for with local ad valorem dollars and bond issues.

I was chastised for suggesting in my previous column that some teachers were threatening to extend the teacher walkout to push a political agenda. I heard declarations that those present were all there for the children.

As I looked around the room I said that I hoped that was true, that no one in that room had anything but the best interests of the kids at heart, but if they’d read my emails or heard the phone calls we get they’d know that isn’t the case with everyone.

One teacher told me that if we didn’t redo our legislation and raise more taxes that she would continue the walkout, and others seemed to feel the same way.

Then I was asked why I was doing nothing to help end the walkout.

Nothing?

Allow me to restate clearly what I told this group of teachers.

We just passed the first revenue bill in the Oklahoma legislature since State Question 640, which requires 75 percent votes in both chambers, was passed in 1992. We passed the largest teacher pay raise in the history of Oklahoma. It ranges from $5,000 to $8,000 and averages $6,100. We protected textbook funds. We guaranteed raises to support staff even though support staff salaries are determined by local school boards and not the legislature. We filled an education budget hole of over $50 million. We increased taxes a half billion dollars with recurring revenue for now and into the future.

I think I have done quite a lot for education, and I intend to do even more.

I also think any further walkout is pointless. When asked what I thought teachers who are planning to continue their walkout should do, I said they should return to their classrooms and take care of their students.

Apparently, to some, that is a rude and outrageous statement.

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Historic Oklahoma Teacher Pay Raise, Time To Move On To Other Priorities

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

           

Legislature Makes History, Largest Teacher Pay Increase In State’s History

My, what a difference a week makes.

I found it interesting, the emails I have received in recent weeks in which I was accused of not supporting education, of not caring about Oklahoma’s children, and I even had a fair number that ended with the declaration of “Shame on you.”

So let me set the record straight.

Almost two years ago, when I launched my campaign for my state Senate seat, I declared that getting Oklahoma’s teachers a significant pay raise was a top priority. I never wavered from that and on Wednesday night the Senate passed the first true revenue bill in almost thirty years to fund those raises. Then we passed a bill defining those raises, over $5,000 for new teachers, and pay escalating based on years in the classroom so that a teacher with 25 years in the classroom will see an $8,000 rise in pay.

It comes out to a $6,100 average pay raise for classroom teachers. They will now be paid far above the regional average, with only Texas paying more, until you consider pay plus benefits and factor in the cost of living and Oklahoma comes out above Texas, ranking 12th in the nation.

             Not bad. That’s a 15% - 17% increase in pay. No, that's phenomenal.

              Additionally, we are providing a raise for school support personnel, replacing education funds recently cut and we restored line item funding for textbooks.

Truly historic.

We cobbled together revenue sources the public generally supports, most of which should be considered use taxes, with a $1.00 cigarette tax, motor fuel diesel at a 6 cent increase, gasoline rising 3 cents, and raising the gross production tax (GPT) on all oil and gas wells for the first 36 months to five percent before rising to 7 percent.

This is the first revenue increase to be passed by the legislature in almost three decades.

This is major. This is truly historic.

But then there are some who seem to have no interest in giving the legislature any credit for the progress that’s been made for education.

Some are like my five-year-old grandson’s teacher, who told him the other day she was going to walk off the job “Because she didn’t make enough money.”

Why would you tell your kindergarten students something like that?

Allow me to insert a personal note.

During my two decades as a classroom teacher, I rarely took personal days and I avoided using sick days whenever I could.  I would not have ever walked away from my classroom. I was going to be there for my students, not doing anything that would undermine their education.

I took the job, despite the pay, because I thought I was able to make a positive difference in my students’ lives. Any teacher, who does not have that as his or her top priority, needs to re-evaluate their choice of profession. For me, the kids came first.

That does not mean I don’t understand the frustration of good teachers who struggle to pay college loans and take care of their families under the existing salary structure. I certainly do. So, for those who felt that working with your administrators to have a day to remind the legislature of the need to follow through on our teacher pay promises, I respect your choice.

To those who threatened disrupting testing schedules, family schedules and our state’s children’s education, and especially to those who continue to threaten such disruptions because you didn’t get all you want, shame on you.

We have taken a huge step forward for Oklahoma schools and students. Let’s be glad and continue moving forward.

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How To Provide Oklahoma Teachers a $6,000 Pay Raise, State Employee Raise, and Restore $115 million in Education Funding

Immediate Release:  March 20, 2018

Bergstrom proposes plan to provide teacher, state employee pay raises

OKLAHOMA CITY – State Senator Micheal Bergstrom, R-Adair, has proposed a three phase plan aimed at providing pay raises for state teachers and state employees.

“As a former teacher with close to two decades of experience in Oklahoma public school classrooms, I appreciate the frustration of our instructors,” Bergstrom said. “In the time since I took office in November 2016, one of the top priorities in my Republican Senate Caucus has been finding a way to give Oklahoma teachers a pay raise. Unfortunately, the budget hole and the constitutional requirement for 75 percent approval in both chambers have hampered our efforts. In the last several months, we have run through a special session, are still in a second special session and are nearly halfway through another regular session and there is still no pay raise. The planned teacher walkout looming in a few weeks adds yet another wrinkle to the situation.”

According to Bergstrom, three obstacles have kept the legislature from completing this task - insufficient revenue, unreasonable expectations and political maneuvering.

“My proposal deals with the first two issues. Hopefully, legislators choosing to put the best interests of the citizens of Oklahoma, our teachers and our students ahead of political desires will resolve the third,” Bergstrom said.

His proposal provides for a $6,000 teacher pay raise over three years, a $2,500 state employee pay raise for those currently making less than $50,000 over three years, and restoration of state aid formula funding for education in 2019. The revenue to pay for this phase only requires simple majority votes in both chambers. Among the revenue measures funding the first year are:

• Capital Gains Tax Restoration – Senate Bill 1086 (Sen. Rader), expected to generate $50 million in year one, and $108 million thereafter.
• Casino Ball & Dice – Senate Bill 1195 (Sen. McCortney), expected to generate $23 million; and
• Medicaid Work Requirement – Senate Bill 1030 (Sen. Brecheen), anticipated to generate $84 million.
  

The revenue to pay for the second and third phases of the plan is dependent upon new revenue bills to be approved this year, either in the current session by the legislature or by a vote of the people in November. Those measures include a $1.00 increase on cigarette taxes and increased levy on cigars, chewing tobacco, and e-cigarettes. It also includes a 5 percent gross production tax on all wells currently at two percent, all new wells, and raising all wells to seven percent after the initial 36 months. Each of these forms of revenue requires a 75 percent vote in both chambers. Bergstrom wants each to be a separate vote during the current legislative session. Under the proposal, any of these revenue measures not approved by the legislature would be passed on to a vote of the people in November.

“It is time for the legislature to move forward with a common sense approach that raises teacher salaries well above the regional average while doing so in a way that is realistic and does not financially undercut the state’s budget in future years,” said Bergstrom.

Please contact Sen. Micheal Bergstrom at 405-521-5561 or bergstrom@oksenate.gov for more information.

Specifics of the proposal are below.

BERGSTROM TEACHER PAY PROPOSAL

Three obstacles have stood in the way of the legislature providing teachers with a pay raise in recent years:

• Insufficient Revenue
• Unreasonable Expectations
• Political Maneuvering

The following proposal deals with the first two issues. Hopefully, considering the best interests of the citizens of Oklahoma will resolve the third. It includes three phases, the first funded by measures requiring only 50 percent votes in both chambers. This proposal provides for the following:

• $6,000 Teacher Pay Raise Over Three Years
• Restoration of State Aid Formula Funding for Education
• $2,500 State Employee Pay Raise Over Three Years

Fully Funded

PHASE 1

• 2019 New Spending – $2,000 Teacher Pay Raise ($116 million), $1,000 State Employee Pay Raise for those making less than $60,000 ($35 million), State Aid Formula Funding Restoration, which may in part be used for school support staff raises ($115 million).
• 2019 Total Price Tag – $266 million
• 2019 New Revenue – Capital Gains Tax Restoration/Rader ($50 million first year/$108 million thereafter), Casino Ball & Dice/McCortney ($23 million), Zero Emissions Soft Cap at $25 million ($80 million), Medicaid Work Requirement/Brecheen ($84 million), Removal of Tax exemption on luxury items ($35 million).
• 2019 Total New Revenue (50 percent votes) – $272 million
  

PHASE 2

• 2020 New Spending – $2,000 Teacher Pay Raise ($116 million), $1,000 State Employee Pay Raise for those making less than $50,000 ($35 million),

Each of these will be dependent upon passage of the revenue measures listed below, either passed by the legislature or a vote of the people in November.

• 2020 Total Price Tag – $151 million
• 2020 New Revenue – $1.00 increase on cigarette tax & increase levy on cigars, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes ($170 million), 5 percent GPT on all wells currently at two percent, all new wells and raise all wells to seven percent after initial 36 months ($205 million)

Each of these forms of revenue require a 75 percent vote in both chambers. Each source should be voted on separately during the current legislative session. Any that do not pass should be passed on to a vote of the people in November.

• 2020 Total New Revenue – $375 million
  

PHASE 3

• 2021 New Spending – $2,000 Teacher Pay Raise ($116 million), $500 State Employee Pay Raise for those making less than $50,000 ($18 million),
• 2021 Total Price Tag – $134 million
• 2021 Total New Revenue Needed – $0 (Already paid for if revenue passes in 2018.)

Why the Oklahoma legislature can't get a teacher pay raise.

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

           

Here Is Where the Blame Lies

On Wednesday night, March 14, the Oklahoma Senate Republicans once again offered a bill that would raise enough revenue to give every Oklahoma teacher a 12.7 percent ($5,000 average) pay raise, provide state employees a $2,500 raise, and restore the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). It was essentially the same revenue bill the Democrats in the Senate supported in November.

Wednesday night they voted against the bill.

Why?

As one Democratic Senator told me, “It doesn’t meet the ask.”

What is the ask?

Well, depending on who you talk with, the Dems want a revenue increase of as much as $1.5 billion. One Democratic Senator told me that they couldn’t support the bill because the Oklahoma Educators Association (OEA) doesn’t want them to. After all, the OEA is the one making the ask. This is the same OEA that joined House Republicans a couple months ago at a press conference to support essentially the same plan as being good for education.

So it seems that a $5,000 pay increase for teachers isn’t enough. They want $10,000, despite the fact that the 12.7% increase we have presented raises the average teacher salary higher than is found in any of the surrounding states, except Texas.

They want a billion-and-a-half dollars for education, or nothing.

That, despite the fact that over 50 percent of our appropriated dollars go to education, despite the fact that we have other pressing issues to deal with, like the fact that our prisons are at 113 percent capacity.  Despite the fact that other essential services are crying for funding, everything from senior nutrition to our medical schools.

But apparently if the OEA wants all or nothing, the Democrats march in lock step. And, of course, there is the politics. With state-wide elections coming up in November, it seems that the Democrats prefer to shut down good policy so they can have a campaign issue in the fall.

That is unfortunate for Oklahoma.

The bill, HB1033xx, has a decent chance of being passed in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.

There is an increase of the gross production tax (GPT) on all oil and gas wells to four percent, a $1.00 tax on cigarettes and a six cent excise tax increase on motor fuels. After 36 months, all wells increase to seven percent GPT. The motor fuel tax will still be lower than it is in surrounding states. Issues that lost votes in the House last time have been reduced or modified to pick up those votes.

I don’t think there was a Republican on the floor who voted for this tax increase who actually liked everything in the package. That includes me. However, if we want to meet some very real needs in this state, we need to increase revenue.

The revenue package we voted on Wednesday night is a reasonable way to get there. We lowered the ask on the cigarette tax by 50 cents from the last time we ran something like this, when it passed the Senate overwhelmingly. We changed the GPT increase from just new wells to all wells. We kept the motor fuels excise tax the same (more than 40 percent of which will be paid for by visitors to the state). That tax has not been increased in 31 years.

It seems that the Democrats were for this bill, before they were against it.

I guess it all depends on which way the political winds are blowing for them at a given moment. I, and the vast majority of my Republican colleagues in the Senate, many of whom will be hurt politically by their votes on this, prefer to pursue sound policy.

I welcome your questions and concerns, so please feel free to contact my office at the State Capitol if you would like to discuss a particular issue or problem.  Our office can be reached by phone at 405-521-5561 or by email at bergstrom@oksenate.gov.   If you visit the Capitol, we are located in Room 428B.
Also, to clarify, it is $5,000 average pay raise, with first year teachers gaining just over four thousand dollars and those with more time in getting in excess of $5,000. Based on the number of teachers at each level it comes to a $5,000 average pay raise.

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Education Lottery Secret Formula Released

The Secret Formula Is Out!

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

Well, it's no longer a secret. OMES has now told us in the legislature, and I am passing on to you, how it decides if lottery funds have been supplanted.They do the following:

1. A comparison of Legislative appropriations to education (common education, career tech, and higher education) from the previous fiscal year to that of the current fiscal year.
2. A comparison of overall Legislative appropriations from the previous fiscal year to that of the current fiscal year.
3. If this base funding for education appropriations was not reduced (other than for normal program adjustments or reductions for revenue shortfall) or was not reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then any funds provided by the Lottery Trust Fund would enhance education funding.
4. If the appropriated funding to education was reduced more than overall appropriations were reduced, then supplanting finding may occur by the Board of Equalization.

What that boils down to is that they took into consideration about $3.38 billion in state education spending, but decided to ignore about $72 million in state education spending.

I have looked over the Excel document with the line item breakdown, and I have to admit that I don't fully understand OMES' reasoning. Hopefully I will by the time we finish the 2019 budget. But at least we now have the formerly secret formula.

Prisons, Churches, Cellphones, Toasters and Neckties

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

           

Battle of the Tie and Some Bills

You might say we tied some things up this week.

For the last four weeks, committees have been meeting in the Oklahoma House and Senate to decide which bills should be allowed on their respective floors. Because of the ice storm last week, the meetings this week, ending on Thursday, March 1 were often quite long. In the meetings I participated in, committee members were often digging deep into the implications of bills, there was occasionally spirited debate, and from time to time, well, it just got really interesting.

I’ll get to a couple bills in a minute, but first let me describe the Battle of the Tie.

A bill was being discussed in the Senate Appropriations Committee when one senator offered an amendment to the bill. I just happened to be presenting the bill for the Senate author who was unavailable to attend the meeting. Soon another senator requested a point of order from the chair. It turned out the senator offering the amendment was not wearing a tie, and Senate rules require that male members of the Senate wear neckties on the floor, and the committee room can be considered an extension of the floor when there is a committee meeting.

There was a rousing debate over this matter with senators grabbing their copies of rule books. It was lively and entertaining, but, before the chair had to rule, a tie was produced and the offending senator draped it around his neck several times and we got back to discussing the amendment.

Now a couple bills.

SB 337 will require retailers across the nation to submit personally identifiable information, about Oklahoma citizens who buy from them, to the Oklahoma Tax Commission who will then mail tax bills to citizens. Anyone else see a problem with this? Things like your name, address, amount of purchase.

So if you buy a $100 toaster from XYZ Business in Dayton, Ohio you’re going to get a tax bill for $4.50 from the Tax Commission.

How is this to be enforced? Will the Tax Commission withhold your refund? How many hundreds of thousands of these letters will need to be generated? What about errors? Do we really want this much personal information being put out there for cyber criminals to hack?

Amazon and others who currently collect sales tax submit no personally identifiable information, just the money.

Here are two of my bills.

•      SB 957 offers the same legal protections to a church, and those attending it, as businesses and homeowners have should they have to defend themselves against a violent threat.

•      SB 1237 allows the Department of Corrections to use cell phone blocking and/or capturing technology should the FCC allow it to do so in the prisons. The FCC is currently considering this rule change. One of the greatest threats to those who work in the prisons is the cellphones that are smuggled in, are traded, rented and sold, many of which are used to run criminal enterprises from within the prisons.

I welcome your questions and concerns, so please feel free to contact my office at the State Capitol if you would like to discuss a particular issue or problem.  Our office can be reached by phone at 405-521-5561 or by email at bergstrom@oksenate.gov.   If you visit the Capitol, we are located in Room 428B.

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The Oklahoma Education Lottery Fund. Was it raided? Here's the truth, but shhh, it's a secret.

Capitol Considerations 

by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

           

 Let Me Tell You A Secret

The Oklahoma Education Lottery Trust Fund was raided once again, or was it?

Well, it all comes down to a secret formula.

On Tuesday the Senate passed, unanimously, Senate Bill 1582 which restores money to the trust fund that the State Board of Equalization had determined was supplanted. That money, almost $20 million, was taken from a surplus in the Unclaimed Property Fund.

So, why in the world would the legislature siphon money from the Education Lottery Fund?

Here’s the reality, we didn’t. Or at least we don’t think we did.

The problem is that the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), which did the calculations for the Board of Equalization, has a formula to determine, when a budget is passed, whether or not the amount being spent on education from sources other than the lottery results in money being supplanted from the lottery trust fund.

It’s a secret.

Nobody in the legislature has any idea how they make their determinations, even though legislative leaders have repeatedly asked the Governor’s office and OMES for an explanation. We’ve been asking for this information since June 2017.

So did OMES warn us about this issue?

Why, of course not.

OMES could have informed the legislature anytime from June 2017 until now about the so-called supplanting so we could have remedied the problem with a supplemental appropriation. The Governor’s office and budget director, you know, the head of OMES, were a part of all budget negotiations, and never raised this point about the budget.

We suspect that there is a great deal of education funding that is not being taken into consideration by this secret formula.

Still we thought we were fine when we finalized our budget in the still ongoing second special session, which we had to fix after the Governor creatively vetoed our budget in the first special session.

But when OMES declared we had supplanted the lottery fund, it threw a monkey wrench in our efforts to shut down the second special session and focus on the 2019 budget. We had no choice but to restore those funds so we can move on.

Thus the unanimous vote in the Senate on Tuesday.

Hopefully OMES will enlighten the legislature regarding its mysterious formula. When that will happen? Your guess is as good as mine.

After all, it’s a secret.

P.S.

A few hours after I originally released this column, I was told by someone in leadership that they had just received an explanation of the "secret" formula. 

I welcome your questions and concerns, so please feel free to contact my office at the State Capitol if you would like to discuss a particular issue or problem.  Our office can be reached by phone at 405-521-5561 or by email at bergstrom@oksenate.gov.   If you visit the Capitol, we are located in Room 428B.

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