Posted on 04/02/2018 7:56:23 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Oklahoma teachers walked off the job on Monday, closing schools statewide as they demanded salary rises for some of the lowest-paid educators in the United States and more funds for a school system reeling from a decade of budget cuts.
“We’re walking because our students deserve more,” the Oklahoma Education Association, the state’s largest union for educators with about 40,000 members, said over the weekend.
Oklahoma’s Republican-controlled legislature last week approved the state’s first major tax increase in a quarter century to help fund pay raises for teachers, hoping to avert a strike with a $450 million revenue package.
The funding would raise by $5,000 the pay of teachers beginning their career, and provide a raise of nearly $8,000 for those with 25 years’ experience, lawmakers said.
That fell short of teachers’ demand for a $10,000 pay increase over three years for teachers and a $5,000 raise for support personnel.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Thanks for the comments, and the questions about Fallin. She may cozy up to big business..I don’t know. I only know that she is an honest broker and a proponent of capital punishment.
You would not recognize Edmond now...100,000+ population. You probably remember that many live like movie stars..(Lot’s of perceived wealth).
The old rock school on Boulevard is named “Russell Dougherty”...lots of BMW’s and Mercedes in the parking lot, (as usual).
I had a high school American History teacher who was a true gem. He was a very smart man who could have done lots of things but he choose to be a teacher and he was a great one. My Physics teacher was similar. He was from Wake Forest and came all the way to Oklahoma to teach me Physics.
Mom taught in a poor country school for three decades after she was 45. A lot of whatever she made went for clothes, glasses and things children needed. To teach is to touch a life.
I do not begrudge teachers a reasonable wage. I do not like them holding the state hostage and more than that I do not like the state for making them have to do it to get notice.
This state is the king of excuses. They have blown ever good thing that ever happened to them. In the last 12 years that they lament their budget crisis the oilfield went through some of the best years of my 40 year career in it. Still the state uses the downturn in the oilfield as an excuse for their budget woes and being the kings of mediocrity.
Yes, my son went there.
Capital punishment is necessary and we don’t have enough of it quickly enough but it is not the basis for a successful administration IMHO any more than strange women living in ponds can be the basis for a system of government.
Teacher’s base annual pay in Oklahoma is between $46,000 and $53,000 depending on the city.
I lived on Highway 66 when it was a two lane road without any shoulders, I know about Oklahoma Highways some years ago, but I left there 35 years ago, so I am a little behind on current conditions. Expansion joints are not common in nearby states, but hey whatever.
We used to drive over into Missouri to race our cars, top speed, no bumps.
I don’t think they cut the rebar in other places.
Notice the three cuts in each wheel track on most concrete highways in Oklahoma? That is where they cut slots to put rebar in to attempt to tie the slabs together to carry the loads across from one to another. Oklahoma is one of the few states to buy into this farce. It is a repair that attempts to remedy poor construction. Each cut that is made and filled is a square cornered stress riser and potential leak path for water to enter the sub base of the road that then creates a pumped foundation failure of the pavement. It is also a money making boondoggle for someone.
Most other places probably also actually HAVE rebar in the pavement since they were inspected to meet the design specifications.
In Texas they use longer sections between expansion joints, continuous rebar and they don’t cut it when they make saw joints for expansion. The pavement usually holds up well.
You can tell when you have crossed the state line between Missouri and Oklahoma with your eyes closed. The bumps are a dead giveaway.
You can tell when you have crossed the state line between Missouri and Oklahoma with your eyes closed. The bumps are a dead giveaway.
Agree. The drop off at state line is your first clue.
Remember that song about Small town Saturday night? “... tells Lucy the world ain’t round. It drops off sharp at the edge of town.”?
Take hope though, people in Kansas think things are better in Oklahoma. Probably better than New Mexico as well. At least people here are sort of conservative.
Remember that song about Small town Saturday night? “... tells Lucy the world ain’t round. It drops off sharp at the edge of town.”?
Take hope though, people in Kansas think things are better in Oklahoma. Probably better than New Mexico as well. At least people here are sort of conservative.
We have our issues, like everywhere else. I wouldn’t live anywhere but Edmond. People in Kansas envy our taxes. I have a friend who drove from Wichita to Ponca City to buy a boat, simply to register it in Oklahoma and save on the taxes.
You are right but I always want to see things better and figure out how to do that. I read an article on mediocrity the other day. It reminded me that Average is the way things are. Average not exceptional and that exceptional only exists in pockets and by force of will.
Oklahoma does not even seem average to me any more. It used to be at least that. On any benchmark scale not the best not the worst just solidly average.
Oklahoma does not even seem average to me any more. It used to be at least that. On any benchmark scale not the best not the worst just solidly average.
I feel the same way. Oklahoma has changed a great deal over the years..people don’t seem to have pride or respect for others anymore...but we still stand as the flag passes. Grew up near St Louis..it too was a great town back in the day. We used to go up there each summer to attend Cardinal games..no more...too dangerous.
Oklahoma is the reddest of the red states, for that I am grateful. I tell my wife that this is the last bastion of conservative thought left in the nation..if we go, it is truly over for the rest of the country.
Enjoyed the visit, have a good night.
I’ve been a jackass myself a time or two...
You just hope when the company you work, for does what you posted, that you can find another job or retire and walk away.
Excellent suggestion and technique:
“I use a similar form to prove that illegals can NEVER hope to pay back in taxes what they get.
Just the costs to educated their kids alone, is more than any of them will pay in a lifetime.”
If they have 4 kids in one of our public schools, that is costing tax payers at least $10,000 per year per kid or $40,000 for the family per year.
Then, throw in WICK/EBT and free medical care for thousands of $’s, more per year per family.
Yep, sure could when I left nearly 40 years ago and I lived there 40 years. The last place I lived had the only County Commissioner that was found not guilty in the scandal that convicted or pled out every County Commissioner in Oklahoma for fraud.
Our area tried one principal for two schools because of cell phone coverage and cost reduction. Principal would spend half a day at one school and the second half at the other.
It worked too well. So, when the economy turned around, they went back to two principals.
A friend, a real teacher and a superb principal worked for 8 years after he retired as either a half time principal or a full one for two schools during the Obama economic down. turn.
He said that with cell phone coverage and good police support, he could have handled 3-4 schools. If a kid really misbehaved, he would have the cops go to the school, get the kid and put him/her in the back of a squad car and take them to the local police headquarters and detain them until he arrived and the parents. Usually that was only needed once. He told the parent if the kids did not behave, they had to home school them.
That should be a very effective strategy. A bit extreme and involved compared to a paddling and parent conference but if that is the only tool left use it.
It is a shame that the principal has to be a disciplinarian at all.
The legislature takes care of their buddies and kicks the can down the road. Sorry cowards.
Just passed legislation includes:
“raises the initial gross production tax rate from 2 percent to 5 percent for the first 36 months of production,”
7% would be much more competitive with other states. Just a joke.
I’m all for low taxes and small government but the state has to have enough money to run and that amount is 20% below the national average in Oklahoma. Maybe they are starving the beast but they don’t have much of a plan to do it.
I have had one pay raise in the last 7 years. I don’t like it and I have been there now over 20 years.
It sucks but I don’t really want to start over at the bottom at a new company either.
I also am not going on strike and I have to work 12 months a year for my salary.
That’s right but even if they got no other benefits that we all know they do get, just educating their kids is breaking the bank.
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