Teachers vow to wait out lawmakers to get funding
Standing shoulderto-shoulder with other teachers inside office No. 409, behind the frostedglass door with the name “Rep. Scott William McEachin” etched across it, Emily Copsey pleaded with the Republican lawmaker from Tulsa to reconsider his stance against eliminating the capital gains tax exemption.
“I’m going to be praying that your heart changes and you look at the bill further,” said Copsey, clasping her hands together in both a pleading and prayerful posture.
Copsey thanked Rep. McEachin for his time and moved on to the next office she could find with an elected official willing to talk.
On day three of a statewide teacher walkout, educators from across Oklahoma returned to the state Capitol to convince lawmakers to significantly increase public schools funding, which has declined on a perstudent basis over the past decade.
Teachers received one late-day victory when the House approved a bill to tax third-party internet
purchases, which is expected to increase education spending by at least $19.5 million in 2020.
However, while teachers applauded the vote, they said more needed to be done.
“I feel like, to some extent, we are getting a ‘we’re going to wait ‘em out’ attitude (from lawmakers) to see if we are going to keep showing up,” said Norman teacher Jeana Riley, who was camped out in front of Sen. Gary Stanislawski’s closed office door.
As they packed the Capitol, inside and out, teachers remained passionate, especially a day after Gov. Mary Fallin told CBS News teachers want more money, “like a teenager wanting a better car.”
“I haven’t been referred to as a teenager for a long time,” said Melinda Fink, a 27-year educator from Catoosa. “I think they are getting the whole idea wrong. It’s not about us teachers, it’s about our kids.”
Inside the Capitol teachers packed all five floors, chanting “Two, four, six, eight, we want you to legislate.”
Inside the Senate chamber, lawmakers conducted routine business while the chants could be heard outside, although the teachers who filled the viewing gallery sat quietly, waiting to see if any effort would be made towards school funding.
“They didn’t seem to care that we were there,” said Caysie Yeatman, who sat through the afternoon Senate session.
Yeatman, who is a high school teacher from Sand Springs, said it was discouraging to watch lawmakers focus on issues other than education, especially with hundreds of schools closed across the state and a teacher walkout taking place.
“I go through this wave every day of being really determined and I’m going to stick to this and make things better,” Yeatman said. “And then it’s like I can’t do that if they don’t listen to me.”
Yeatman said she’s willing to stay out of school for at least two weeks, if not longer. Many schools announced they would remain closed on Thursday and a group of teachers kicked off a seven-day march from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.
“I think that the pressure is on,” said Greg Frederick, principal of U.S. Grant High School in Oklahoma City, which has lost 30 staff members over the past three years, while adding more than 200 students.
“I think (the walkout) is frustrating some of the legislators but I think they need to be frustrated right now.”
Wednesday also had an increased presence of students who held their own rally outside the Capitol.
Edmond Memorial senior Gabrielle Davis coordinated the student gathering and said she believed students could help push lawmakers to act.
“You see on national news right now that teenagers are leading the way and inspiring change,” said Davis, referring to recent student-led demonstrations against gun violence. “So, I think that we are a group of people who should be listened to and legislators should be concerned about.”
Students such as Lizzie Lanier, a freshman at
Shawnee High School, shared stories of how funding cuts and challenging conditions for teachers had impacted their school experience.
“This year in science, we had a teacher quit in October. Since then we have had a train of teachers that have come and gone,” Lanier said. “At one point, our principal was doing our lesson plans. And now we have a history teacher teaching science.”
The Capitol continued to have a heavy presence of state troopers who, at times, restricted the number of people who could be on each floor. Long lines snaked around the building as teachers waited to enter.
Those who weren’t waiting in line or gathered near the south steps simply marched around the Capitol, waving homemade signs targeting the state Legislature.
While the rallies on Monday and Tuesday mostly ended in the afternoon, a large presence of teachers remained into Wednesday evening, watching the ongoing House session.
As House members debated the third-party internet sales tax bill, teachers watching outside the chamber continued to chant. When the vote tally came in, there was an eruption of cheers, but also a chant of, “we’re not leaving.”
The past three days of rallies have not had any visible signs of violence or altercations.
However, after some lawmakers, including Fallin, made vague reference to out-of-state protesters being present, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety issued a statement late Wednesday saying it was monitoring the situation.
“The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety has identified a growing number of outside protest groups, not involved with the ongoing teachers’ rally, present at the State Capitol,” the statement said.
A call to the department’s media relations number went to voice mail and The Oklahoman was unable to obtain any additional details or incident reports.
The Department of Public Safety did not identify which “outside protest groups” it had seen. But its statement also said there “have been reports of threats made towards members of the Legislature and the governor’s office.”
“I have not seen a single bit of violence or trouble,” said Renee Williams, a teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Tulsa.
Williams attended the rally on Monday and Wednesday and said she hadn’t seen any outside protest groups.
“That would be the last thing we would want and I haven’t seen any outside groups at the Capitol,” Williams added.
“But have I seen passionate teachers? Yes, I have; lots of them.”