Union demands go beyond education

While Oklahoma teachers are preparing to strike in a few weeks over pay raises and education funding, over half the demands from the state’s largest union are not directly related to public schools.

The Oklahoma Education Association has set an April 2 deadline for the state Legislature to act on nearly $812 million in funding requests.

While that figure includes a $10,000 pay raise for teachers and $200 million in public school funding, the OEA also is asking for $256 million in additional health care funding and $213 million for state employee pay raises.

“Education doesn’t happen in a bubble,” said union President Alicia Priest, referring to the importance of including money for health care and state employee pay. “Our students depend on rural hospitals being open to meet their needs. Our students depend on rural mental health care. There’s a lot outside the school that impacts our students.”

The funding request for health care is meant to address programs through the Oklahoma Health Care Authority that were recently cut, according to union spokesman Doug Folks.

Because most of the focus has been on Oklahoma teacher pay, which ranks last in the nation, some political observers have wondered if the additional funding requests could be negotiating chips with the Legislature.

Last week, Priest said anything short of the union’s demands would result in school closures.

On Monday, Priest didn’t budge from that position.

“We are not going to negotiate in the press,” Priest told The Oklahoman when asked if health care funding could be dropped. “But we are quite clear what we have asked for and now it is time for the Legislature to fund it.”

Also included in the union demands is $213 million to fund pay raises for state employees, which includes social service workers, correctional officers and child support specialists.

Last week, the Oklahoma Public Employees Association board of directors voted to move forward on a work stoppage plan.

“Our plan is to be shoulder to shoulder with educators on April 2 at the Capitol,” said Tom Dunning, communications director for the public employees association.

“But this is more than

Our plan is to be shoulder to shoulder with educators on April 2 at the Capitol.”

Tom Dunning, communications director for the public employees association

about pay raises. This is about services in the community.”

Many public school students rely on those services, such as food and housing assistance, child welfare protections and other supports for lowincome households.

“The child in DHS custody, the child who needs mental health help, the child who is sick and relies on rural health care, those are our students,” Priest said.

Those kinds of services are increasingly important as Oklahoma is one of the 10 worst states for child poverty, has the fifth highest rate of children without health insurance, and leads the nation for the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch at school, according to the U.S. Census and the Children’s Defense Fund.

“There is so much talk about a teacher pay raise that often the services that are provided to the kids (are) left out of that discussion,” said Joe Dorman, chief executive officer for the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy.

Dorman said the connection between social services and education is not always understood by lawmakers.

Adding health care and state employee pay to the request put the teachers union’s price tag over $812 million, a seemingly daunting figure for a state Legislature that has not been able to find the necessary votes for a tax increase in recent years.

As a former member of the Legislature, Dorman said he understands the difficulty with such a request. But he hopes lawmakers are willing to negotiate with teachers.

“I’ve been disappointed with the lack of willingness to meet in the middle ground and find a compromise,” Dorman said. “It seems like more of the Washington, D.C., style of politics is creeping into Oklahoma.”