Senate approves bill to provide school salary transparency

OKLAHOMA CITY – A measure to provide increased transparency of local school districts’ spending on salaries was approved Wednesday.  House Bill 2009, by Sen. Jason Smalley and Rep. Michael Rogers, would require the State Department of Education, beginning with the 2018-19 school year, to annually publish on its website a report that lists all increases in wages, salaries, rates of pay or fringe benefits, and any changes to job class.  

“Following the 2018 teacher walkout, it was evident that many school employees and a vast majority of the public didn’t understand that the legislature only sets the minimum salary schedule of teachers.  It does not control administrative pay, teacher pay above the minimum salary schedule or support staff pay.  These salaries are determined by local school boards and school district administrators,” said Smalley, R-Stroud.  “Hopefully, this additional information will help shine some light for the public on actual pay for school employees and hold districts more accountable for how they choose to spend their available funding when it comes to salaries.” 

The Department currently collects this information already but would have to publish the information within 60 days following the submission of personnel reports certified on October 15 and July 15.  The information would have to be available within one click of the homepage for ease of access.  This would require no additional work for local districts. Changes to job class that do not result in a pay increase are excluded from the requirement.