Oklahoma Teachers Walked Out From Schools for THIS Mindblowing Reason!

We’ve heard of students walking out from their classes to conduct a protest against the government. Most activists protest to promote their advocacies and condemn the present administration whenever it’s not performing as expected. We seldom hear of teachers walking out from classes to do the same thing.

However, that’s exactly what happened in Oklahoma. Just this week, the Oklahoma teachers didn’t attend their respective classes to complain about their wages!

The Educators Want a Hike on Their Wages

Several administrations already had passed for the last ten years and the teachers still didn’t receive any raise for their salaries, Lyndsey Stuart complained. She works as a history and leadership instructor at Bartlesville High School. She claims she never experienced any increase in her wage since she started teaching.

Most teachers have to work two-three jobs just to sustain their living

She didn’t think that their current compensation could help them become rich or a millionaire. However, she clarified that their wages enable them to live an average life. However, it seems the teachers have been adjusting their budget since the last decade without any hike, so now they opt to protest for the first time.

The State Teachers Union,  Oklahoma Education Association, encouraged the professors to walk out from their classrooms on April 2, the day after the Legislature sets to pass the budget. The organization requested a $10,000 raise for the educator’s wage for the last 3 years. Aside from that, they want the government to increase the education funding up to $200 million. They said that the education sector needs that high amount if the country wants to produce high-quality professionals. Currently, the department continues to suffer from budget cut since 2008.

Stuart Is Not Alone

Stuart receives an annual salary of $34,929. It enables her to pay her bills and food. However, she needs to render an additional 30 hours of work from her part-time job as a photographer to make her ends meet. Other teachers like Stuart live this kind of life too. In fact, an average teacher in the state only earns around $42,460 a year. It is ranked as the lowest salary range out of the 50 states in the country. Six other states namely Texas, New Mexico, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Arkansas only make an annual teacher’s salary of $48,103 as of May 2017.

The Legislature Not Heading to Their Pleas

The organization said they wanted the government to act fast. Just last week, the Oklahoma House passed a raise package bill that aims to increase the teacher’s wages up to $5,000 since the 1990s. However, the said bill hasn’t become a law yet. Besides, the lower chamber also didn’t include an increase in school funding. The teachers admitted that they didn’t have other options to get the government’s attention. They tried passing a petition letter before and initiate talks to the public officials in futile. Aside from that, the educators’ patience is already wearing thin.

Most teachers marched down the streets to upgrade the country’s education

Unfortunately, one senator also lamented the teachers for setting a wrong example for the youth sector. He even reiterated that protesting won’t change anything. However, the teachers beg to disagree. If the legislature sees about 50,000-100,000 teachers marching down the streets, they’ll eventually head on to their request. The moment they do, that’s the time teachers will stop from walking out of schools just to protest.