OEA Calls for End to Teacher Walkout

Oklahoma teachers ended their statewide strike Thursday after nine days, claiming victory in getting a raise and more funding for public schools but acknowledging that additional concessions from lawmakers are unlikely.

The social worker told a school resource officer that she had a teen in court who was showing “real and identifiable” symptoms of trauma and said he had been robbed and beaten at school.

The statement also praises the efforts of demonstrators in their role in securing $479 million in education funding for the next school year, but said this still falls “well short” of its responsibilities.

Gone bush: Walgett Public Primary School in western NSW.

Nine days after it began, the teacher walkout in Oklahoma is finally over.

Earlier this month, Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill that raises teachers’ salaries by an average of $6,100.

“Teachers are leaving to other states just because of the teacher pay”, she said. Now, she added, unions hope to spread the message that conservative policies lead to the school budget cuts that teachers and parents have been protesting.

Among other demands, the Red for Ed movement, started by the grassroots organization Arizona Educators United, is calling for a 20-percent raise for all teaching and certified staff, a return to 2008 school funding levels, smaller class sizes, and new resources and materials.

The move came after the Republican-dominated legislature passed its first major tax hikes in a quarter century that raised about $450 million in revenue for education. But the total promised increase in spending for next school year remained roughly the same.

“Being in the classroom for the past 15 years, I have experienced firsthand all of the things that the teachers are complaining about today”, said Sherrie Conley, a Republican candidate in House District 20 who is also an educator. She had never been involved in politics before, she said, but the condition of her three children’s schools – aging textbooks, broken furniture – drove her to act. But after almost two full weeks, the horizon looked bleak.

But teachers across the state pledged to continue fighting for more school funding and higher pay.

In announcing an end to the walkout, the Oklahoma Education Association said it was now focused on the November elections. Superintendent Gary Fields said those teachers will represent all of the 600 employees who work in Bowling Green schools.

“This is actually the best day because we’ve gotten knocked down, but we are still standing”.

President Donald Trump has floated the idea of schools outfitting teachers with guns, an idea praised by the National Rifle Association but criticised by school safety advocates.