A single spark can start a prairie fire, as the old saying goes. A successful strike by teachers in West Virginia a few weeks ago appears to have inspired Oklahoma’s long-beleaguered educators.
Vox has the skinny on the strike. The bottom line is that public educators in Oklahoma have not seen a raise in something like a decade. Even a decade ago, Oklahoma’s educators were poorly-paid compared to their colleagues in other states. They have fallen further behind in the interim.
Once upon a time, Oklahoma was a “purple” state. Oklahoma tended to vote GOP for President, and often voted GOP in statewide offices, but had a reliably Democratic state legislature. That all started changing a little over a decade ago, starting a process that led to the current predicament. The state cut income taxes, oil extraction, etc. Something had to get cut in the process, and that meant funding for public goods. Social services got cut, salaries stagnated, and tangible funding for schools suffered to the point that about a fifth of the state’s school districts switched to a four day school week. The state’s legislators finally gave in enough to offer some half-measures, but the teachers collectively have said that what the legislature and Governor offer is not good enough. And so it looks like a strike is in the cards starting next week. I often visit this state, and know people who rely on the public schools there. What has happened over the last decade is a travesty. I wish the teachers success. They deserve it, and so do the students.
As an aside, the article I linked to made note that Arizona’s teachers are also talking about taking actions similar to the colleagues in West Virginia and Oklahoma. Maybe we have the beginnings of a prairie fire.
This might not be my usual beat, but it seemed important enough to alert the community here. Some other interesting things have happened in Oklahoma in the past year, including Democratic candidates over-performing in special elections. Although I doubt this state will turn “blue” in the next electoral cycle, I do think that we’ll see it take on a more purplish tinge after November.
One of the other things I like to note is how a decade’s stagnation of educator salaries has affected the students. Oklahoma’s flagship universities still train plenty of K-12 instructors, but very few of those graduating are sticking around in Oklahoma. Instead, they are taking jobs in neighboring states for considerably better living standards. School districts are required to rely upon more instructors who get alternative certification, perhaps on an emergency basis. These may not necessarily be the most qualified for the job. Schools have cut back on programs that once benefited students – the arts are usually the first thing to go. Parents end up ponying up considerably more of their own wages to make up the difference in terms of school supplies. Another way of cutting back has been to reduce the number of days students spend in class, thus costing them later when they try to compete for college or jobs in any of a number of vocations. Legislators have used the lack of funds as an excuse to push for consolidating rural school districts. That hurts in any of a number of ways. The decade I spent in rural Oklahoma gave me a keen appreciation for how much a town’s local school meant to its identity. Losing a school and its district is in a very real sense an existential loss. That’s not to mention the cost to the students in time as they now have to be transported to more remote schools, or end up being home-schooled (and given how poorly prepared many parents are for that particular chore, these kids’ educations may vary considerably in quality). This strike, like the one on West Virginia, and possibly soon Arizona is one that is about saving a public good as much as anything else. Once upon a time we as a society viewed public education as an investment. Too many of us lost sight of that, at the detriment to us all. The folks on the front lines are fed up and are finally pushing back. They deserve our support. It is time to at least belatedly acknowledge the importance of investing in our future generations once more.
How much support can the teachers expect from the public if/when they strike?
The recent strike in conservative West Virginia should give some salient information.
Right now, my impression is that there seems to be plenty of public support. Keep in mind that I am relying on a very small sample of personal contacts – albeit a sample that varies across the political spectrum. We’ll see how that pans out over the next few days once the proverbial rubber meets the road.
Thanks for all this info, I did see a 15 second mention of it on some teevee news blather.
When one hears of the multitudinous trainwrecks ongoing in all these Deep Red states, KS, WV, OK, AZ etc etc., always involving some variation on “conservative” hatred of “Big Gub’mint Wasting YOUR Money!”, I have to marvel at how long Repubs are able to keep the con going. What does the ordinary OK schmoe THINK is going to happen to public education when the state’s teachers sit at the bottom of the economic cesspool for decades? What’s the simple economic analysis of such a situation (since all these “conservatives” see themselves as such great Economic Thinkers)? The mind boggles.
Obviously, the “conservative” majorities in these states have only themselves to blame. I’ll wager that OK has ensured that any teachers’ union is hamstrung by right to free-ride laws. And given that there are indeed shortages of qualified teachers nationwide, the proper response of an experienced OK teacher is to get the hell out. How much shit is too much?
The 5 “conservative” activists (with their stolen Gorsuch seat) on the Supreme Court will be announcing their 5-4 decision gutting the power of public sector unions any day now. That will ensure that teachers will have much weaker bargaining power and clout in EVERY state, not just failed states like OK and WV. So the prairie fire will soon need to engulf the whole country. And “conservative” voters in Deep Red states like OK who have voted for every Repub who has gotten us to this situation can congratulate themselves, I guess.
Perhaps the nation’s teachers and their kids can lead the nation out of this horrible morass.