Oklahoma teachers might follow West Virginia in strike, walk outs

Public schools in West Virginia remained closed today for the eighth instructional day and teachers in Oklahoma might be the next to walk out statewide, officials said.

Echoing West Virginia teachers grievances for more pay and more staff, Oklahoma teachers and a newly formed group“Oklahoma Teacher Walkout - The Time Is Now!” are calling for the state’s 41,000 teachers to walk off the job as soon as April 2, the group’s leader said.

“A walkout would be the last resort, but we want more money for education in the state, that means more money for supplies, more staff and pay raises so teachers will stay,” said the group’s leader, Alberto Morejon.

[url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-west-virginia-education/oklahoma-teachers-might-follow-west-virginia-in-strike-walk-outs-idUSKBN1GH0KH]Source[ /url]

So after the success of what has been happening in West Virginia it looks like other states are starting to follow along. While West Virginia's teachers are now trying to get all state employees to join with them, Oklahoma's teachers are considering their own strike to not only get a pay raise but also get more money for education in general.

On top of just considering a strike though, they're also considering what's being called a nuclear option. The date they're looking at to start the strike is April 2. This is testing day for Oklahoma. If those tests aren't actually taken it could potentially cost Oklahoma millions in federal funding.

Personally I think this is great. Teachers and education have been getting the shaft for a while now. More funding for education and happier teachers will ultimately lead to smarter students. Which sounds like a better idea to me than spending billions more on killing kids in other countries.

ETA: No idea why the hyperlink won't work. Everything is formatted correctly.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

It is kinda surreal after all the talk of shutting down schools all together after the staged events in fla.


reuters (There are two dialog boxes the first for the name and second for address)

a reply to: Xcalibur254

One must wonder and consider how much WV will end up raising property taxes to compensate for what their teachers, who were already making more as individuals (on average) than the median total household income in the state, did concerning their pay raises.

My point being, the money has to come from somewhere, and when that somewhere is the coffers derived from taxation, how much of that extra pay increase do they think that they will actually get to keep in their pockets?

Here is another source since my initial source doesn't want to link properly.

Oklahoma Teachers May Soon Go On Strike

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Tried to fix your link..

www.reuters.com...

a reply to: Xcalibur254

I always despise teachers unions for this crap.... holding children's education hostage until their demands are met... in fact i hate all unions in the public sector. its just taxpayer extortion.

The URL itself is too long. Seems the forum SW can't handle one that long. Using Google URL shorter, it seems to work.

Source URL

Select "quote" on this post, then copy the above URL tag into your OP.

originally posted by: smkymcnugget420
a reply to: Xcalibur254

I always despise teachers unions for this crap.... holding children's education hostage until their demands are met... in fact i hate all unions in the public sector. its just taxpayer extortion.

Yup. The taxpayer is not represented at the negotiating table.

More money for education?

We are top 3 in the world for education funding yet consistently rank 30-35th out of 71 countries in our education standings

So tell me is it REALLY a money issue?......

Of course not, but we don't really want to actually fix the problem......

We just want to play politics and continue using our children as pawns and talking points

If the teacher's union was smarter, they would use school safety as the main reason to increase funding. At this time, you'd get a lot more people to agree with that, including the student body.

Aren't they supposed to never let a good tragedy go to waste? Then it if was shot down, they could accuse people of callously wanting to kill children.

In this case, it would at least be for a good cause....as opposed to more take home pay.

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
More money for education?

We are top 3 in the world for education funding yet consistently rank 30-35th out of 71 countries in our education standings

So tell me is it REALLY a money issue?......

Of course not, but we don't really want to actually fix the problem......

We just want to play politics and continue using our children as pawns and talking points

It is because our public school system also operates as social services for broken homes. The schools have to operate to the lowest common denominator because they are tasked with educating everyone, no matter the situation.

This is why public schools in wealthy areas are usually good, but those in poor areas are almost universally bad even though the funding is the same. The rich areas generally have kids who are coming from parents who are educated whereas in the poor areas, the kids are coming from broken homes.

Public schools are only as good as the kids that are attending. Great public schools aren't great because of the teachers, but because the students are already above average.

The issue isn't schools, funding, or teachers...

a reply to: Edumakated

And what of the much poorer countries that consistently out pace us by huge margins???

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

hunger makes you stronger in the brain

you likely can not understand that though

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
a reply to: Edumakated

And what of the much poorer countries that consistently out pace us by huge margins???

The common denominator is a culture that values education and stable families. Also, to be fair, in many countries, the public schools have no problem with tracking or kicking out problem students whereas here in the US, we try to educate everyone no matter how pointless the outcomes will be...

I live in an area with excellent public schools k - 12. We have more money than we know what to do with as far as public schooling is concerned. Many of our teachers make six figures. The area is also extremely liberal, progressive, and diverse. For years we've had an issue with a "racial gap" in school performance. Basically, there is a fairly significant gap between the white students and black students.

Like most progressive communities, they look at EVERYTHING like discipline, white privileged, systematic bias, racism, etc trying to figure out why the average black kid doesn't do as well as the average white kid. However, the one thing won't ever look at is family structure and the involvement of the parents. They will never publish stats on single parent homes, homework completion, after school studying, etc.

a reply to: Edumakated

That's exactly where I thought you were going to go......

Can't argue w that at all, that's my conclusions as well

a reply to: Xcalibur254


reuters

Instead of using "source" use "reuters"in the descriptor, then it will allow the link.

I see BigBurgh already mentioned it.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

More funding for education and happier teachers

Only one of these is being addressed here and it happens to be the least important.

ultimately lead to smarter students

Let's hope the students can see how dumb these teachers are.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

I tell you what, being a teacher is a job I'd never want. I understand their desire for more money, and in some regards I agree. We need to better the education in the United States, let's start by allotting more money to teachers and the schools.

But then again, no one becomes a teacher for the pay check. They do it because they love to teach, to help others achieve their dreams. I do believe though, that many get into the profession without really realizing just how much work it takes, and how little pay you end up getting for said work.

a reply to: ventian

Their demands include more funding for supplies as well as the hiring of more teachers. So this goes beyond the just the current teachers getting more a pay raise.

They know that 30+ student classrooms are far from ideal. They also know that it's ridiculous to require teachers to supply their own chalk.

In most states teachers are required to hold a Masters. That's a lot of student loan debt to be paid off. And yet year teachers are only making under $30k. And that's before they have to buy even the most basic of supplies for their class because there's no money left in the budget. Meanwhile, the ideal class size is around 15 students but you're lucky if you're only teaching twice that amount.

And all the while you see administrators making six figures.

Students aren't getting enough attention because there's too many crammed in a class. There's too many crammed in a class because there's not enough teachers. There's not enough teachers because they're pretty much condemned to a life of poverty. And those that do stick around are so overworked and underpaid that they burn out by the time they're 35.

The education system in this country is essentially a microcosm of why trickle down doesn't work. Those at the top keep all the money while those under them are expected to do more with less and less.

a reply to: Aegeus

They have decided to put that money ahead of their desire to teach. These teachers survive comfortably compared to many of their own students, they have an overall safe job, and they have the opportunity to influence the literal future with ideas more powerful than material. Ideas that should have been the reason for getting into the profession.

Personally, if they can't figure out all of these simple things that are right in front of them, then they may be unsuitable for such a powerful career. I'm not against better funding in education, these teachers have plenty of problems that grow more complicated by the day, but they need to show that the money will go unwasted before the taxpayers are forced to cough it up.