{"id":30094,"date":"2018-05-24T12:34:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-24T17:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=30094"},"modified":"2018-05-25T11:06:34","modified_gmt":"2018-05-25T16:06:34","slug":"galvanized-by-walkout-oklahoma-teachers-enter-crowded-election-year-with-promises-to-prioritize-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/05\/24\/galvanized-by-walkout-oklahoma-teachers-enter-crowded-election-year-with-promises-to-prioritize-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Galvanized by walkout, Oklahoma teachers enter crowded election year with promises to prioritize schools"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_30099\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-30099\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-1920x1280.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180410_walkout7_HR-1620x1080.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Emily Wendler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tulsa Public School Superintendent Deborah Gist speaks to a crowd of supporters during the Oklahoma teacher walkout.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Deborah Gist cried as she stepped across the small stage in front the Oklahoma State Capitol. The Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools and a group of educators had just finished a 110-mile walk from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to highlight their fight for more school funding.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/448595493&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p><p><!--more-->It was the seventh day of Oklahoma\u2019s teacher walkout, and thousands of supporters rallied to greet the group as it finished the final mile.<\/p><p>\u201cThis is not a rally,\u201d Gist yelled to the crowd. \u201cThis is not a protest. This is a movement!\u201d<\/p><p>Gist\u2019s tears soon gave way to an energetic speech in which she challenged teachers to continue fighting for schools after the walkout ended. One way to do that, she said, was direct involvement in state politics.<\/p><p>\u201cWe must vote!\u201d she said. \u201cWe must register others to vote! We must run for office!\u201d<\/p><p>Candidate filing for state offices started the next day. By the end of the week, a<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tulsaworld.com\/news\/capitol_report\/candidate-filing-day-record-candidate-filing-period-ends-with-a\/article_ca100141-bf64-5987-895c-12c992df4b79.html\"> record 794<\/a> Oklahomans decided to run. Some estimates suggest as many as 80 of those campaigners are public school teachers.<\/p>\n<h3>\u2018Invisible\u2019 to action<\/h3><p>Cody Coonce, an English teacher at Bixby High School, is one of them. He says it was his lawmakers\u2019 reluctance to meet with educators during the strike that made him think he could do better.<\/p><p>\u201cI tried to meet with a few lawmakers, who, three days in a row, could not be found,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just impossible to sit down and talk over issues, and I feel like it\u2019s important, even if I completely disagree with another person, to give them the time to make their case.\u201d<\/p><p>Coonce, \u00a0a Republican, is running to unseat Republican Rep. Mike Ritze. Coonce says he wants to make school funding a priority and feels the long-time incumbent has not.<\/p><p>\u201cI believe that if I had a candidate who was pro-education in my district, I would not have felt the need to run as much as I did,\u201d Coonce said.<\/p><p>Jen Youngberg teaches in Haskell Public Schools, a small district southeast of Tulsa. She\u2019s filed as a Democratic opponent to Ritze and describes a similar experience during the teacher walkout.<\/p><p>\u201cAfter having the opportunity to meet my representatives at the Capitol, I was extremely upset by their nonchalance of what to do about the education crisis in Oklahoma,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>Another educator, Democrat Madeline Scott, is vying for Republican Rep. Tess Teague\u2019s seat in Choctaw. Scott said she planned to run in 2020, but the teacher walkout motivated her to enter politics sooner, rather than later.<\/p><p>\u201cI spoke to my representatives, and it felt like they didn\u2019t hear me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was invisible. I didn\u2019t matter.\u201d<\/p><p>All three teachers say the lawmakers representing their local districts are out of touch. The candidates\u2019 school boards all voted unanimously to support teachers who walked out to pressure lawmakers for teacher raises and more school funding.<\/p><p>Both Ritze and Teague voted against three major legislative packages that would have increased taxes to fund teacher pay raises.<\/p><p>Neither incumbent responded to StateImpact\u2019s request for comment. In other interviews,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.enidnews.com\/oklahoma\/in-their-words-house-members-explain-no-votes-discuss-walkout\/article_70027a0c-374a-11e8-a146-c3699d18d035.html\"> Ritze took issue<\/a> with businesses exempted from an increase on tobacco taxes. Teague<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeagueForHouse\/photos\/a.975086699170849.1073741828.973494715996714\/1877680275578149\/?type=3&theater\"> wrote on Facebook<\/a> she thinks lawmakers could have increased school funding without raising taxes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_30098\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-30098\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-1920x1277.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-1920x1277.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-620x412.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2018\/05\/180402_Walkout02_HR-1624x1080.jpg 1624w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Jacob McCleland \/ KGOU<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teachers and supporters rally at the state capitol during the nine-day teacher walkout.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>The change game<\/h3><p>Deven Carlson, an education policy researcher at the University of Oklahoma, says many of the state\u2019s most conservative Republicans will have to fight the hardest to keep their seats during the 2018 election.<\/p><p>\u201cThose representatives who opposed most of the revenue measures brought forth in the House this Spring are seeing a significant[ly] larger number of challengers than those who were generally supportive of the revenue measures,\u201d he said.<\/p><p>Ritze, for example, ran unopposed in 2014, but now has five contenders. Teague, for her part, drew seven opponents.<\/p><p>The fierce political competition isn\u2019t reserved for only tax-wary conservatives though. In the House alone, the number of candidates has nearly doubled since 2014.<\/p><p>Another way of looking at it: Fifty-one House members ran unopposed in 2014. For the 2018 election, only 15 are unopposed \u2014 and most of them are Democrats.<\/p><p>Andy Richardson is a lawyer running against Rep. Chuck Strohm for House District 69, another crowded race in the Tulsa area. Richardson says it\u2019s clear that Oklahoma voters want change.<\/p><p>\u201cI saw the way that the educators, teachers, friends descended on the Capitol, and there just seems to be a disconnect between the Legislature and what Oklahomans really want,\u201d he said.<\/p><p>Richardson\u2019s read on his community is that people want stronger, better-funded public schools.<\/p><p>It\u2019s unclear whether the momentum from the teacher walkout will fuel significant change this election season. In 2016, a similar thing happened: About 40 teachers ran for office on a platform of increased school funding.<a href=\"http:\/\/kosu.org\/post\/five-teachers-win-seats-oklahoma-legislature\"> Only five of them won<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deborah Gist cried as she stepped across the small stage in front the Oklahoma State Capitol. The Superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools and a group of educators had just finished a 110-mile walk from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to highlight their fight for more school funding.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":30097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[871,775],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30094"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30119,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30094\/revisions\/30119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}