The Oklahoma teacher walkout and educators’ demands for more school funding dominates the news. It’s unclear if lawmakers are willing to meet those demands and quell daily protests. One lingering question: If schools get more money, what happens to other state agencies and workers who need funding, too?
Police Sgt. Jeff Crawford is breaking his routine. He’s leaving the office and climbing into his squad car because Oklahoma City Public Schools teachers and supporters are rallying at the state Capitol to demand more school funding. Crawford is a school resource officer who normally works out of Douglass Mid-High School. He has left his [...]
Governor Mary Fallin signed a teacher pay raise into law on Thursday, giving educators their first state-funded salary boost in 10 years. On average, they’ll get about $6,000, but many of them are still walking out of their classrooms on Monday.
Joe Wertz / StateImpact Oklahoma Teachers, parents and students at a March 2018 education rally in downtown Tulsa. After months of gridlock and failed deal-making, the Oklahoma House and Senate have passed a nearly $450 million tax package designed to fund raises for teachers and avoid statewide school closures. Gov. Mary Fallin said she’ll sign [...]
In a late-night attempt to stave off a statewide teacher walkout, the Oklahoma House passed a series of bills that gives teachers a $5,000 to $7,000 raise – depending on their experience. The package of bills also raises pay for school support staff and state employees, however it’s not clear if the legislation – as written – [...]
In the first public press conference since talk of a statewide teacher walkout began, the largest Oklahoma teachers union laid out their demands for the state legislature.
Many Oklahoma educators are fed up with state lawmakers who have promised teacher pay raises for years but have failed to actually deliver. At their wits end, these teachers are now planning to walk out of their classrooms to push legislators to act.
The state’s largest teachers union, the Oklahoma Education Association, says they will announce the details of a statewide teacher walkout on Thursday. Alicia Priest, the president of the OEA, says years of failed attempts by the legislature to increase education funding and teacher pay have forced the organization to consider the walkout.
Oklahoma lawmakers enacted legislation in 2015 that lets school employees, including teachers, carry guns on campus. Okay Public Schools, near Tahlequah, appears to be the only district in the state that uses the law to arm its staff. Superintendent Pete Hiseley did not work for the district in 2015 when the Okay Public School Board [...]
When President Donald Trump ordered an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last September, he put 700,000 immigrants’ futures in jeopardy.
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