OKLAHOMA CITY — A teacher rebellion that started in the hills of West Virginia spread like a prairie fire to Oklahoma this week and now threatens to reach the desert in Arizona.
In the deep red state of Oklahoma, the Republican-led Legislature approved money for teacher raises and more school funding, even hiking taxes on the vaunted oil and gas industry to do it. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin rushed to sign the measures into law Thursday.
Oklahoma teachers were inspired by West Virginia, another red state where a nine-day strike led to 5 percent teacher raises. Oklahoma teachers haven’t had a raise in a decade of Republican control and they won raises of between 15 and 18 percent. Now, teachers in Arizona thronged their GOP-run Capitol this week, demanding a 20 percent teacher pay hike.
“West Virginia woke us up,” Arizona Educators Association President Joe Thomas told a cheering crowd at a protest this week in Phoenix.
In Oklahoma, the tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel and oil and gas production will be enough for raises averaging about $6,100 annually, as well as funding boosts for schools, support personnel and state workers.
Oklahoma ranks 47th in the nation in public school revenue per student, nearly $3,000 below the national average, while its average teacher salary of $45,276 ranks 49th, according to the most recent statistics from the National Education Association.
“A lot of teachers are just tired of the promises,” said Alberto Morejon, a junior high history teacher from Stillwater, Okla., who launched a teacher walkout page on Facebook that quickly reached more than 70,000 followers.
Many GOP-led states are feeling the pushback after years of tax cuts that have slashed funding for core government services such as public schools, said Lily Garcia, president of the teachers union NEA.
“It has been an unmitigated disaster, and it’s now coming home to roost on all those folks who blindly cut taxes, not caring how that was going to impact communities,” said Garcia.
In both Arizona and Oklahoma, teachers are mulling whether the current offer from the Legislature is enough to avert a work stoppage. The union in Oklahoma was demanding $75 million in new funding for education, and is expected to get $50 million under the plan.
Many rank-and-file teachers in Oklahoma are demanding that all of their needs are met before they agree to stop a walkout.
