‘ Tired of begging’
Teachers rally in Oklahoma, Kentucky.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Classes were canceled Monday for hundreds of thousands of students across two states as teachers rallied at capitols in Oklahoma and Kentucky to demand more money for education.
The walkouts come less than a month after teachers in West Virginia ended a nine-day strike that shuttered schools there and less than a week after thousands of Arizona teachers rallied to demand a 20% pay increase.
Larry Cagle, an English teacher at Thomas Edison Preparatory High School in Tulsa, was one of thousands of teachers gathered in Oklahoma City.
“We’ve gotten tired of begging for everything,” said Cagle, a co-founder of the grass-roots advocacy group Oklahoma Teachers United. “Teachers, students and the community have decided enough is enough.”
Oklahoma ranks near the bottom among states in pay for teachers, who are striking despite a $6,100 pay raise signed into law last week by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin. Oklahoma Education Association President Alicia Priest called the legislation a “down payment.”
The association, the state’s largest teachers union, is calling for $10,000 raises over three years, $5,000 raises for bus drivers, custodians and other staff, and restoration of more than $100 million in education spending trimmed in the past decade.
Frank Solomon, superintendent of Noble Public Schools, said he has had to cut the speech and drama programs in his high schools and push back buying buses and air conditioners.
“The funding issue is the biggest roadblock we have right now,” he said. “When you have to Band-Aid everything together, it’s frustrating.”
Despite the anger, the mood inside Oklahoma’s Capitol was upbeat and something of an expo, with legislators offering hot coffee and bagels to protesting teachers and their supporters.
Waynelle Mason, 63, was among the state workers who showed up to support teachers — and rally for raises for state employees.
“We don’t take care of our kids in any way, shape or form” in Oklahoma, Mason said. “My kids were with their teacher almost as much of their waking time as they were with me. You take care of people like that.”
In Kentucky, teachers met at the union’s headquarters in Frankfort before marching to the Statehouse. Kentucky Education Association President Stephanie Winkler said educators will be closely watching legislative proposals for education spending.
Teachers were outraged last week when the state Legislature, struggling to fund the public employee retirement system, passed a bill to overhaul the pensions. That prompted more than 500 teachers to flood the Capitol on Friday to protest. The crowd ballooned into the thousands Monday.
Teachers also oppose financing proposals for privately run, publicly financed charter schools.
“We will remember in November,” some chanted. All 100 seats in the Kentucky House of Representatives are up for election this year.
White reported from Oklahoma, Novelly from Kentucky and Bacon from Virginia. Contributing: Mandy McLaren and Morgan Watkins, Louisville Courier Journal
“When you have to Band-Aid everything together, it’s frustrating.” Frank Solomon Superintendent, Noble Public Schools in Oklahoma