(Reuters) ― Oklahoma’s Senate on Wednesday approved legislation for the first major tax increase in a quarter century to help fund pay raises for teachers and avert a strike. Low teacher pay in the United States came into focus earlier this month when educators in West Virginia, whose pay is slightly higher than in Oklahoma, held a nine-day strike that ended after they received a 5 percent pay rise. But the money may not be enough to satisfy the demands of Oklahoma’s teachers, who rank among the worst paid in the United States and had been planning a strike for next week. The tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel, lodging and oil and gas production will fund a $6,100, or 16 percent, pay raise on average for Oklahoma teachers, Fallin said in a statement. Oklahoma secondary school teachers had an annual mean wage of $42,460 as of May 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Source: Huffington Post March 29, 2018 03:11 UTC