Oklahoma teacher walkout day two

He is spitting nails.

Thousands of teachers took to the streets of Kentucky and Oklahoma on Monday, rallying in the latest show of force by angry United States educators demanding better pay and more funding for public schools.

Schools across the state are closed Tuesday to honor the teacher walkout. That vote followed earlier walkouts.

Oklahoma teachers are selling plasma, driving for Uber and cutting lawns to make a living.

“We’ve had teachers leaving for years, and now it’s getting so bad the kids want to leave, too”, said Bartlesville teacher Brian Davis. The latest states to join the movement are Kentucky and Oklahoma, where teachers went on strike on Monday.

Mary Ryan, a 22-year educator who teaches middle school computer and science technology in Edmond, said her average class size is around 30 students, and she teaches as many as 180 children a day. Other schools were already closed due to a scheduled holiday.

Veronica McQueary, an elementary school teacher from Whitley County, said she feels like lawmakers don’t care about public education.

“We’re not gonna take it”, sang the Kentucky teachers, joining in a rendition of the defiant rock anthem by Twisted Sister.

Striking West Virginia teachers declared victory last month after winning a 5 percent raise, but Oklahoma educators are holding out for more. “And I think we’ve said to them, “it’s OK to treat us this way’ because we’re martyrs”.

In Oklahoma, teachers like Cagle have stepped up, discontent with union leadership. Oklahoma also offered tax breaks to oil companies to attract their business, but these corporate tax breaks diminished state revenue from 2008 through 2014. The American Federation of Teachers has about 2,700 members out of 42,000 teachers.

The wave of protest is cresting as the Supreme Court prepares a decision in Janus v. AFSCME, a major case in which the court is expected to make it harder for public sector unions to require workers to pay membership fees.

“Today’s Monday, so usually (we get) spaghetti or pizza”, he said. “It is teachers saying, ‘We are sick and exhausted of 10 years without a meaningful raise when the cost of living is going up all around us'”. “You’re not going to stop that with a $6,000 raise”. It’s not fair that the teachers don’t get paid fair because they be working hard.

They’re also in it for the long-haul, advocating for a tax change to help pay for school funding that will be on the ballot in November.

It wasn’t clear how long teachers planned to walk out of schools and rally at the Capitol. But teachers say it’s not enough, noting that the legislature also cut taxes that generate revenues for schools.

LILY ESKELSEN García, president of the National Education Association, the biggest of the country’s two main teachers unions, rightly called the battles taking place today an “education spring”. The OEA didn’t accept the deal.

That’s why they opted to show up at the legislature instead of the classroom, although one teacher actually brought the classroom to the legislature and taught AP Literature on the lawn. They rallied at the state Capitol last week, dressed in red, with some supporters raising the idea of a strike.

Teachers at the capitol said they’re fighting not just for themselves, but for their students and the future of education in our state.

With the strike and protest coming the day after Easter, one popular sign affixed to the stage of the student speak-out read: “He is Risen!”

Oklahoma teachers say they have been forced to work second jobs to pay their bills, and school districts have cut classes to four days a week to save money. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said that won’t happen.

(DEBRA DAVIS) We teach our kids all the time: ‘Do the right thing.’ Now it’s time for our state Legislature to do the right thing. I had 25 desks and 21 chairs.

Karvelis says that, once a critical mass of teachers is on board with a walkout, “the power is in our hands”.

Lower teacher pay and benefits eliminates the interest of teachers wanting to teach in Arizona.