Gov. Stitt signs billion-dollar budget deal that includes teacher pay raise, $200 million to savings

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed a bill appropriating more than $8 billion to state agencies in the next fiscal year.

House Bill 2765, the general appropriations bill for $8.1 billion for Fiscal Year 2020, was signed into law Friday. The legislation was signed by Governor Stitt, along with Senate Bill 1076 which sets aside $200 million for the state’s savings.

“For the first time in state history, Oklahoma teachers will receive a pay raise for a second year in a row. This is going to go a long ways to letting teachers know how valued they are,” Gov. Stitt said Friday. “2009 was our historic high water mark in education funding, so to let everybody know that was $2.5 billion that we funded public education in 2009. That was before the downturn, and I’m excited to say that we are in the highest levels we’ve ever been. We’re now $538 million above the 2009 levels, so we’re going fund over $3 billion in public education, so it’s a fantastic start.”

The general appropriations bill passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives last Friday and the Oklahoma Senate on Tuesday along party lines. Democrats questioned the need for $200 million to be saved, noting several areas of the budget that could have used more funding.

“No one disagrees that savings is good. We just feel like the responsible fiscal thing to do is to pay all of your bills before you save,” Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City, said. “We have rural hospitals that are closing, inner community health centers that are closing, overcrowded schools, overcrowded prisons. While we are making small steps in the right direction on this. We have hundreds of millions of dollars that we could use to make those things better now.”

Supporters of the budget have long stressed the need for savings in the event of an economic downturn or emergency.

“Nobody can foresee the future,” Oklahoma House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, said. “Take for instance what’s going on in the state of Oklahoma right now just with weather, weather patterns in the state. The damage that’s being impacted and inflicted upon our state right now. We will have to answer that soon.”