Fallin: teacher pay raise plan will work, despite 'naysayers'

OKLAHOMA CITY — Governor Mary Fallin is defending her plan to give teachers a pay raise, a plan announced in her annual state of the state address last week.

Fallin's plan moves $178 million into education that would afford a $3,000 pay raise for every teacher in the state. It sidesteps a current drive to get a one-cent sales tax on the ballot for education, led by OU president and former governor David Boren.

"I found a way, even in a budget shortfall year," Fallin said in an interview with Fox 25.

When asked if she felt the plan was realistic, Fallin emphatically said, "Absolutely."

Related: Fox 25 Investigates Special Report: The State of Oklahoma Education

In an interview with the Tulsa World, House Minority Leader Scott Inman said the plan had no chance and was a political move.

"As soon as they lose two Republican seats to Democrats in the House and Senate, they realize that people, regardless of party affiliation, are now frustrated with their fiscal mismanagement of the public schools," Inman said in the World article.

"For those naysayers who say you can't do it, show me your plan," Fallin said. "My job as Governor is to lead and to put proposals out there. I'm always happy to receive everybody else's plans. Sometimes people don't have a plan, they just want to be naysayers. I put out an honest, workable plan for how we can give teacher pay raises---how we can fix structural problems in our budget."

"I challenge the legislature: do the hard work this year, don't kick the can down the road," Fallin said. "Don't leave the next governor with the same old problems because you don't have the guts to fix the problems."

"Is that the problem, they don't have guts?" Fox 25's Keaton Fox asked.

"Some," Fallin replied.