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 ...
Oh, so you give the money to students? Right. What bullsh*t to use the students as human shields.
Well at least that puts an end to school shootings in Oklahoma.
I grew up here in Oklahoma, left for most of my career and then came back home to retire. If I had not already bought land here many years ago and made investments here and had some roots here I would go somewhere else. What I came home to is an utter disappointment. Oklahoma has always been a little seedy and backward but at least it felt adequate, safe, reliable and friendly. Some of the friendly remains.
My wife was watching the news last night and the head of OEA etc. Her verdict was the need for better state wide leadership. Mine argument is that we need to start with some leadership at all.
Oklahoma spends a comparable amount of money per mile of highway to other states but ranks near dead last in on time and on budget performance of highway projects. The whole state is like a speed bump.
Most kids will not self learn.
That is what a teacher is for.
My wife is a teacher in Illinois.
One of interesting things is that they have a “non strike” clause in their contract. She also votes “no” on every contract saying it is “to much”.
Most companies will pay for your MBA. Mine did.
Agreed.
I’m thinking of sending it to Dan Potter at KRMG.
I’m also taking it to my state rep for all the good that will do.
Oklahoma does not need better leadership it needs some leadership to start with.
“HOME SCHOOL EVERYONE!”
And Home College too!
Maybe even Home Medical School!
I found out that there was such a glut on the market that the company was hiring MBA's to work the phones for $11-12/hour. Not much ROI in that.
So, For better or worse, I went in a different direction. So far, so good.
Abolish public sector unions.
Most single moms don’t have the time.
That is the real issue. The stories my wife could tell you...
Same with homeschooling. Done right, it is excellent. But the people doing it right are the same ones whose kids would probably do well in just about any environment. Done poorly, you end up with a kid who has no education.
My old company would not pay for it, as it would mean I was leaving them.
My current company is moving away from tuition reimbursement for similar reasons. The ROI isn’t there.
That, and many other perks, are getting hard to justify.
Bullshit.
The teachers unions don't actually care whether those kids live or die.
They lament the loss of income, is all.
They are filthy commies. I have no respect for them. Maybe they should just get another cat to allay their sadness.
Yep. I think the main service public schools offer today is day care up to age 18. And since bastardy is so common today and even in two parent homes both parents HAVE TO work (or at least think they do), so there is nobody available to teach, so they go to the government indoctrination center (public schools). It is already having a negative impact, but give it another decade. This is gonna leave a mark.
One hears that states with responsibly managed public education have districts organized at the county level. One school district per county.
Oklahoma has 77 counties, and the last time I checked, 481 school districts IIRC. Maybe it was 488, I'm not sure. Certainly over 400, each with their own little school board and superintendent, and there are those who defend the status quo with a straight face.
I'm not sure exactly what authority the Governor has over each of these school districts, OKC and Tulsa public schools being the big ones, ranging all the way down to, uh, let's say very small districts that are nothing more than some local fiefdom hanging onto some political power. It would be interesting to know the enrollment of the smallest district; I don't happen to know. All I can say is that there is a lot of eight-man football played in Oklahoma.
Oh, did someone say something about some kids?
Maybe the Governor could cut off some funds, say the money that Tulsa public schools was spending to take teachers in district-owned school buses, burning taxpayer-paid-for gas to the state capital to protest but frankly she has a problem with political capital at this point in her career. She's a nice lady but she ain't DJT or Reagan.
OTOH, the legislature passed (with a supermajority, as required by law) a set of tax increases and a three-year pay raise package for teachers last week.
How will a strike, etc, go over with Joe and Jane taxpayer after the fact?
I have no idea. Stay tuned.
West Virginia officially BARS teachers from collective bargaining. Yet that did not stop them from pulling this stunt (with massive amounts of help from organized labor of course).
Fire’m, hire non union replacements.
....reading, math, and science scores go up.
Agreed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.