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.
