Teachers are leading the way in the fight against the low tax paradise shithole Oklahoma has become in the hands of a GOP majority.
Time is running out for Oklahoma lawmakers. They have until April 2 to reach a spending deal or teachers will strike en masse.
Oklahoma’s teachers are rebelling against years of deep cuts to education that have left 20 percent of public schools on a four-day-week schedule and average teacher salaries ranked 49th in the country. Last year, about a quarter of the state’s public school teachers left the state or quit teaching altogether.
Those who remain have come up with a list of demands. Teachers want raises for all state employees for the next three years, plus more spending on health care and pension plans. They also want lawmakers to restore millions of dollars in school funding that have been cut in the past decade. To meet the educators’ demands, state legislators need to come up with $3.3 billion over three years to pay for it.
