Teachers Take the Streets

Teachers in Oklahoma and Kentucky spent Monday marching out, demanding better pay and more education funding.

Public schools in Kentucky were closed Monday as thousands of teachers descended on the state capitol in Frankfort. Their anger was motivated by a pension reform bill for which Republican governor Matt Bevin told teachers they should be grateful. But, it was tacked on to a sewage bill and according to teachers, was passed deceptively and without input. Teachers said they wanted to pressure lawmakers to be certain the state budget served the best interest of public schools. In Oklahoma, teachers demonstrated despite already receiving an agreement for a $6,100 pay raise – they had asked for $10,000. Teachers there have emphasized their demonstration is less about their pay, and more about upgrading outdated teaching tools. Both demonstrations were inspired by West Virginia teachers, who walked out back in February for nine days and received a five percent pay increase.