TULSA, Okla. — A new bill addresses Oklahoma's teacher shortage while helping veterans transition to civilian life.
The legislation was filed in the Oklahoma Senate and would pay for veterans schooling to become certified teachers.
There's no shortage of veterans living in the Tulsa area, with the latest numbers showing there are more than 65,000.
It's why there will soon be a state-of-the-art veterans hospital built in 2025, but many of those veterans are looking for their next step.
As Tulsa soon gets ready to have a 58-bed veterans hospital at 7th and Houston in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sen. Adam Pugh, a veteran himself, wrote a bill that would get veterans certified to teach.
"We know that we have a shortage of teachers in the state of Oklahoma," Pugh said. "We're competing with many states around the country to get the best and brightest in the classroom."
He also said Oklahoma is an attractive state for military veterans.
Brett Wagner of Tulsa thinks veterans make great teachers.
"I think the leadership experience, being with other soldiers and leading other soldiers, is like being in the class where many of those experiences can translate," Wagner said.
Senate Bill 1311 would create the Veterans Entering Teaching Act, or VET. Students would have to go to an Oklahoma higher education institution.
Sen. Pugh believes it could be a win-win scenario.
"These men and women, and I've been there myself; I've personally gone through leaving active military life and thinking through what the next phase of my career was going to be like," Pugh said. "Nationwide, there are about 200,000 men and women every year, and a lot of them are looking for their next mission in life."
In Sen. Pugh's words, selected folks would go from a hero on the battlefield to a hero in the Oklahoma classroom.
2 News also reached out to Tulsa Public Schools about the bill.
In a statement, they said, "they pursue a variety of pathways to recruiting and equipping potential educators, like the Tulsa Teacher Corps and the Coffee Bunker. We appreciate Sen. Pugh and other legislators’ interest in addressing the state’s ongoing teacher shortage."
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