{"id":31334,"date":"2019-03-28T13:04:16","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T18:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=31334"},"modified":"2019-03-28T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T20:05:18","slug":"one-year-after-the-teacher-walkout-has-education-taken-a-backseat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2019\/03\/28\/one-year-after-the-teacher-walkout-has-education-taken-a-backseat\/","title":{"rendered":"One year after the teacher walkout, has education taken a backseat?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_31344\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-31344 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-672x424.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-672x424.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-1920x1210.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-150x95.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-620x391.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/03\/IMG_3495-e1553803228914-1713x1080.jpg 1713w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oklahoma Education Association President Alicia Priest addressed over thirty educators gathered on March 26, 2019 before heading to the state capitol to lobby their representatives.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/597475809&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\"><\/iframe><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has been nearly one year since the teacher walkout, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when thousands of educators flooded Oklahoma\u2019s state capitol demanding better pay and more school funding. After nine days and little progress, they turned their attention to the 2018 elections. <\/span><\/p><p><b>\u201c<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We will go to the ballot boxes in June and in November. We will campaign for candidates who are friendly to public education,\u201d said Ponca City teacher Zach Murray on the last day of the walkout. \u201cNo more will education be secondary to everything else.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lawmakers appropriated about $50 million more to education last year\u2014 a fraction of the $200 million <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/03\/08\/oklahoma-teachers-union-lays-out-1-4-billion-in-demands-from-legislature\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">demanded by the Oklahoma Education Association<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the state\u2019s largest teacher union. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why teachers have returned to the capitol this year.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Teachers Continue Lobbying<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Putnam City teacher Nikki Craig was at the capitol nearly every day during last year\u2019s walkout. She recently returned to talk to lawmakers about outstanding needs in classrooms. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI feel like emphasis continues to be put on raises,\u201d Craig said. \u201cBut a big issue on top of the raises is classroom funding.\u201d <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Craig told Democratic Sen. Julia Kirt she relies on two teaching assistants to manage her class of thirteen, but the position has high turnover due to low pay.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cA starting TA in my classroom, they bring home $948 a month,\u201d Craig said. \u201cAnd without them I could not function.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Craig teaches the most severely disabled students at Will Rogers Elementary School. They range in age from five to twelve. Some are in wheelchairs. Others use feeding tubes. And most need to be changed multiple times a day. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe do some academics, but we spend more time working on life skills,\u201d Craig explained. \u201cI have a student who has been at our school since he was three. He&#8217;s a fourth grader, and this is the first year he&#8217;s ever drank out of a cup without spilling.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Craig is one of many teachers from across the state continuing to visit the capitol. OEA President Alicia Priest estimates forty to fifty union members have lobbied their representatives each week since the 2019 legislative session began, in hopes of swaying lawmakers to add more money to the school funding formula this year. <\/span><\/p><p><b>From Educator To Lawmaker<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dozens of educators filed to run for office in 2018. Just <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/11\/08\/educator-caucus-falls-short-of-election-goals-but-vows-to-keep-pushing-for-more-school-funding\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">seventeen<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> were elected, though education was a common campaign theme.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEverybody wanted to talk about how education was the number one priority for our state,\u201d remarked Democratic Sen. Carri Hicks, one of the former educators who took office this year. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But these educators-turned-lawmakers face the same underlying reality as last year\u2019s legislature: revenue that falls short of agency budget requests.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Legislators are mulling a second teacher pay raise, in addition to the one <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/03\/29\/lawmakers-pass-rare-tax-increase-for-education-but-funding-falls-short-of-teachers-demands\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">passed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> just before last year\u2019s walkout began, but there has been little discussion of boosting funding for things like supplies, support staff and teacher training.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks supports another teacher pay raise and more classroom dollars, but she worries it\u2019s become and either or scenario. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe biggest elephant in the room has been education,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI&#8217;ve been disappointed that there haven&#8217;t been talks about revenue raising measures.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Newly elected Republican Rep. Danny Sterling feels differently.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cInvesting in the classroom, you know, maybe that&#8217;s going to be one of the things that we look at in the future,\u201c Sterling said. \u201cYou only got so many dollars to go around.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sterling <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recently <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">retired after forty years at Tecumseh High School<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to making budget decisions, he is looking to leaders in the House of Representatives for guidance.<\/span><\/p><p><b>\u201c<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve really been appreciative of how they\u2019ve tried to help us,\u201d Sterling said as he headed off to a a budget meeting for freshman lawmakers. \u201cIt is like you\u2019re a freshman. I left school after 40 years to go back to school.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> So I&#8217;m literally studying my lesson.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><b>The Budget<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks to continued economic growth and last year\u2019s tax increases, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the legislature has more than half a billion extra dollars to spend this year, but <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/10\/26\/state-department-of-education-asks-lawmakers-to-increase-education-funding-by-440-million\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the education department\u2019s request <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">alone would eat up close to 75 percent of the surplus.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt is our constitutional responsibility to express the needs of schools in meeting the needs of kids,\u201d said Superintendent Joy Hofmeister. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On top of rising costs, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/sde.ok.gov\/newsblog\/2019-01-28\/oklahoma-student-enrollment-grows-nearly-4000\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma\u2019s student population has grown by over 50,000 since 2008<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Hofmeister says the needs of Oklahoma\u2019s students have changed dramatically due to widespread poverty, incarceration and addiction. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We now have children who have adverse childhood experiences that are profound.\u201d Hofmeister said. \u201cWe are seeing increase in mental health issues that need support, and teachers are shouldering the brunt.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Craig can attest to that, and it\u2019s one of the reasons she believes schools need more money. She said she often gets pulled away from her students to address behavioral problems in other classrooms.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have more training in de-escalation techniques, and a lot of times the regular teachers don&#8217;t know how to do that,\u201d Craig said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, education isn\u2019t the only thing legislators have to fund this year. Other agencies have also asked for more money, and the state has existing obligations, like debt. Republican leaders are also interested in increasing state savings, something <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kgou.org\/post\/2020-state-revenue-slightly-less-expected\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov. Stitt has advocated for<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a way to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">avoid deep spending cuts during the next economic downturn.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hicks says this is not the time to put money away. <\/span><\/p><p><b>\u201c<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time is precious and the lives of our children, and so I just have a really hard time saving for our future at the cost of now,\u201d Hicks said. <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oklahoma law requires the legislature fund education by April 1st, but the House and Senate have yet to reach any agreement. The Oklahoma Education Association says they haven\u2019t ruled out another teacher walkout.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It has been nearly one year since the teacher walkout, when thousands of educators flooded Oklahoma\u2019s state capitol demanding better pay and more school funding. After nine days and little progress, they turned their attention to the 2018 elections. \u201cWe will go to the ballot boxes in June and in November. We will campaign for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":31335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1043,1002,721,1042,1041,737,1040,779],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31334"}],"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\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31334"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31355,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31334\/revisions\/31355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}