Oklahoma City Public School Board approves teacher bonus program

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A plan to help schools keep their best teachers is getting a second chance.

The OKCPS board voted Monday to take part in the teacher bonus program after a crucial change to where that money comes from.

The Oklahoma Teacher Empowerment Program (OTEP) allows excellent educators to elevate their professional growth and pay without moving into an administrative role, and it is expected to begin this school year.

"Our goal is to prepare every Oklahoma City public school student to graduate, ready to fulfill their unique purpose and thrive in a healthy and vibrant community," said Brad Herzer, Assistant Superintendent for OKCPS.

To help achieve that, Oklahoma City public schools are rolling out a teacher empowerment program.

Based on these requirements, a teacher will qualify for three categories based on teaching certificate, experience, evaluation results and student performance.

"To provide incentives for teachers to receive $3,000 to $10,000 pay increases, depending on the designation level," Herzer said.

Once you are put in your designation level, teachers will be graded on a rubric score for their attendance, professional development, awards, leadership and mentorship.

"It is used to elevate their professional growth and pay them without moving them out into an administrative role," Herzer said.

OKCPS actually rolled out this program back in 2022 under HB 4388, but it required schools to match the bonus.

"So, a $3,000 bonus was designated for the teacher, the district had to match that," Herzer said. "If there was a $5,000 designation, district had to match that, $10,000, etc. So, most districts across the state did not participate in that program."

In May, SB 1256 was passed getting rid of the requirement for the school to match. It was presented to the board today and passed unanimously.

"We can have in the district up to 10% of our teachers that are designated as either master, lead or advanced, which would be approximately 250 teachers," Herzer said. "We hope that many apply and take advantage of this opportunity."

Herzer says the program is funded through the Oklahoma Education Lottery Act, and they currently have around $42 million for the program.

They would like to start it for this school year but have one more step to take.

After receiving approval from the Oklahoma City Public School Board, they will now submit the plan to the State Department of Education for approval.