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Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: January 10, 2012
Sen. Jim Wilson
Wilson says repealing sales tax exemption for newspapers would fund
Nationally Board Certified teacher backlog
In an effort to fund the estimated $17 million backlog owed to
Oklahoma's Nationally Board Certified teachers, Sen. Jim Wilson
wants to repeal the sales tax exemption for newspapers and periodicals.
Senate Bill 1098, filed Monday, would help create around $17 million
in additional revenue according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission,
which the Democrat from Tahlequah says could be used to pay back
the state's most qualified teachers.
"The State made an agreement to pay teachers $5,000 per year
if they became Nationally Board Certified. There is an exception
in the law allowing the State to renege on its commitment if money
is not available, but that agreement is a contract and should be
paid back eventually,” said Wilson. “We need to get
our priorities straight. I believe it’s much more important
to keep our promises to these educators than to provide sales tax
exemptions for newspapers.”
Wilson came up with the $17 million NBC teacher backlog figure by
adding the shortages of bonuses made in the past three years. In
2010, the State gave the districts $5,000 for each certified teacher,
but neglected to pay the district’s portion of payroll taxes.
In this case some of the districts shorted their teachers $355.32
in their gross pay to accommodate the under reimbursement. The teachers
were shorted $1,495.42 in their gross pay in 2011. The district’s
portion of payroll taxes was again omitted from the gross. In addition,
the State Board of Education voted to combine the funds in the NBCT
revolving fund with revolving funds in other nationally certified
educators – like speech pathologists. In 2012, the State of
Oklahoma decided to omit the entire $5,000. The sum of shortages
over the three years – at least for some teachers - is $6,850.74.
“We have a moral obligation to these outstanding, hardworking
individuals to give them the bonuses they were promised,”
said Wilson. “Legislative leaders have discussed restoring
the stipend, but have not been specific as to when, how much or
whether retroactive obligations would be honored. It’s much
too easy to avoid commitments by claiming lack of money, but I’ve
found a funding source that will help fully reimburse these teachers
and I hope my colleagues will support my bill.”
For more information contact:
Sen. Wilson: (405) 521-5574
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