After being the 2023 National Teacher of the Year, Rebecka Peterson’s passion for teacher advocacy has grown. Now as the Teacher Leadership Specialist for Union Public Schools, she’s working to support students, teachers and schools both in the district and across the state.
Peterson has become involved in a new initiative by Advance Oklahoma’s Kids called Better Outcomes For Oklahoma’s Kids or BOOK. It aims to address issues in Oklahoma’s education system. We sat down with her to ask her about this initiative.
Q: What is the goal of the BOOK initiative?
A: The premise is – let’s be proactive instead of reactive. As Oklahomans, we all want what’s best for our kids, that is something we all agree on, we may not agree on how to get there, but we all want what’s best for our kids, and we tell our kids the best way to solve big problems is to put our heads together, to collaborate, to compromise.
Q: Part of the initiative is developing 10-15 policies to be heard by lawmakers. What are some of the key changes you wish to see?
A: The one that is really important to me is teacher pay. We have to pay teachers like the future of our state depends on it, because it does. Another policy I really want to think about is, how do we increase paid protective non-instructional time for our teachers. Teachers need time to plan, grade, reflect, collaborate, and they’re carving out time before school, after school, during the weekends, during the summers…time that they’re not paid.
Q: What are some of the financial disparities Oklahoma teachers face?
A: We know that there’s a steep teacher penalty. In other words, when teachers start out, they make 20% less than their counterparts with other four-year degrees. For most teachers in Oklahoma, do you know how long they have to teach to get to $50,000 a year? 15 years. We can’t keep relying on altruism to sustain this profession, we have to put our money where our mouth is. We have to catch up.
Q: Why is this issue important right now?
A: We have about 4,000 teachers leave in Oklahoma every year right now… retiring, moving states, moving professions altogether. We’re only graduating about 1,100 students every year from traditional college programs, and so those vacancies often are filled through emergency certifications. We emergency certify about 3-4,000 teachers every year right now in Oklahoma. Compared to 2011, we emergency certified 32 people and so that number has skyrocketed.
Q: Oklahoma is currently ranked 49th in education. Do you think the BOOK initiative can help change that?
A: I believe in Oklahomans, and I believe that our hearts all beat the same way, and that is for our kids. And I am excited to see what’s to come, I am optimistic and I am hopeful that when we lock arms and we do this work together, we are going to do right by our kids and by our teachers.
Q: What is your hope for education in Oklahoma in the future?
A: My hope is that we restore the respect and appreciation for teaching, that teaching becomes something our students continue to want to pursue and that’s not going to happen if they take a 30% pay cut by choosing this profession over a different four-year degree. Public school is for all of us but great public schools come down to one thing: great teachers.
To participate in BOOK’s online survey, click here.