Me likey.
Do the states that are striking have teacher’s unions? If not, their red state legislators can’t blame the Teacher’s Union, as is their usual tactic. If there’s no union but just an collective of educators working together in common cause, it proves those legislators are just opposed to America’s teachers, public education and basic resources for learning by their own state’s children. No other way to put it.
In OK there’s a union. Legally they are not allowed to strike, which is why it is critical for local school boards to cancel classes. In fact teachers are generally supported by their districts.
The article mentions that the two big cities, Tulsa and OKC, will be out Wednesday. Word is that school will be back in session Thursday in Bartlesville, the wealthy district that has been the leader at the forefront of this movement, and that they will return to sending delegations like they were every Tuesday before the walkout. So I’m not sure what the game plan is there.
Meanwhile, and this is really important, Sen. Coburn’s anti-tax group is going to exploit a loophole to try to take away the funding that has already passed there - part of the wording prevents the laws from going into effect if the additional taxes don’t go into effect. So they are planning to get the 41,000 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot as a referendum - and pending the vote, no taxes could be collected on those measures, and thus no funding increases either.
School funding and the teacher walkout are incredibly popular, but that might not matter. And more discouraging, there seems to be little incentive for politicians to follow their constituents on this issue. The GOP has an almost complete lock on the state, and the vast majority of incumbents don’t have a challenger in the primary, or even in the general. Even the seat belonging to one of the reps in the town where this movement started, who is leaving due to term limits, has no Democratic candidate. In fact progressives have reregistered as GOP just so they can vote in a primary contest because there is literally no point in holding out for the general.
Just for a moment I have to rail against the lack of support the national party has had for Oklahoma. They’ve got an incredible opportunity there this year, in fact they have been amazingly successful in some recent special elections, but will likely just give this one to the undeserving GOP anyway.
/rant
I really hope the best for Arizona. And Kentucky. People actually want education for their kids, and there’s a lot of energy and organization around this issue.
Arizona teacher here. Teacher’s unions are weak in Arizona- it’s a right to work state. Some districts have more participation in the union, but not mine. I’m the only member at my site, as far as I know. We are having a walk-in tomorrow morning and every upcoming Wednesday as part of the #red for ed campaign. I’m not sure how our district leadership feels about a walk-out, but we have been walked on for a very long time, and there seems to be at least a tacit encouragement for teachers to get involved speaking out and taking a stand. Ducey ran on cutting taxes - and has cut (mainly corporate) taxes every year since getting into office. And then, surprise, surprise- there’s not enough money for education. The universities and community colleges keep taking the hits and tuition is hardly “as near free as possible” by any stretch of the imagination.
I can remember having $400 per year for expendable supplies and $400 for capital purchases- but for the last number of years it has been $200 a year for expendable supplies only. Throughout the state, there are numerous unfilled positions, many long-term substitutes, non-certified teachers who are going through various alternative certification programs and they are even importing teachers from overseas. But I have former colleagues who have quit teaching for nursing or other programs and other colleagues who have moved out of state where they instantly earn $15,000- 20,000 more. I think that the situation is dry tinder just waiting for a match to flame up.
Thanks for sharing that. What a shithole of a state. They used to be so progressive. I believe I heard OK was the first state to provide full time pre-K in the country. What a mess those GOPers have made of a decent public educational system. Coburn is a jerk. Even when Obama kept saying he was on friendly terms with Coburn, Coburn couldn’t wait oftentimes to stab him in the back at every opportunity when he was in office. And so disappointing to hear Dems didn’t field any serious candidates as contenders against those goobers currently running for office. For all the bragging being done by Dems about having a 50 state strategy it sure doesn’t look like OK is on their radar much.
Well, if it means anything to you, you have my admiration for fighting the good fight. Stay strong. At least you have your priorities in their proper place. Can’t say that about many of those legislators however. What is it about these jerks that makes them so heartless and oblivious to the needs of children? Children!! And how the hell do people like that live with themselves or even manage to get elected? Sick stuff. I wish I had an answer. Its cruelty on the installment plan.
Thank you for your comments.
Don’t jump the gun there, lol. Yes, they did have full-time pre-K but that was essentially a thing snuck in under the table that ended up surprising everyone. They didn’t know it was law until it was, lol. The current Governor’s predecessor was a Democrat, who won initially in a weird three way race that involved a cock-fighting scandal. Of course he proved to be quite popular and served a second term, which was the limit.
Yeah, a fifty-state strategy is exactly for places like Oklahoma. It’s really sad. If you’ve seen videos, e.g. the one where the teacher says she’s a Republican and threatens to vote for a fencepost with an R on it if necessary to get the incumbent out - well, that primary is likely the only opportunity to have any choice at all. There are lots of Democrats in the GOP because that’s the only game in town if you want to participate as a voter.
It’s really critical for the Democratic party, and for progressives in general, to have active local organizations and make serious runs for those small city and county offices. It’s the only way to develop experience for candidates and staff. Cutting off funding and staff for those small-payout states ceded a lot of territory to the GOP, and it is going to take time to build back the infrastructure. People are resentful for not being supported, for being seen as not worth the effort (but give us your money please).
By the way, don’t look for the teachers to rescue the Democrats here. One of the reasons they have so much support right now is that this isn’t seen as a partisan issue.
ETA: If you want to see what a permanent one-party state looks like, the dream of so many Republicans, look no further than Oklahoma. And look where that got them.
Sounds like the mirror image of Hawaii. There are no Republicans left in the state Senate, and only five in the House (out of 51). There are a whole bunch of Republicans in the Democratic party (including some pretty conservative people), who switched parties because they would never get elected with an R beside their names. And there’s a good chance that a couple of the remaining R House members will flip, as the state party has been conducting a purge of anti-Trump Rs.
This actually caused a minor flap a while ago because the redistricting commission is supposed to consist of members chosen by the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate. But there is no minority leader in the Senate…
One party rule is generally not great for democracy. The saving grace for the Democrats there, I’m guessing, is that the party embraces a lot more diversity of position and opinion than the modern Republicans do where they are in power. Why is the GOP so weak there? I have limited experience with the state.
Yes, the Democrats here encompass what would normally be about four parties. Republicans are weak because they consistently push regressive policies that are detested by most people in the state. The only thing that’s keeping them going is a core of about 25% Christian conservatives (who are culturally fairly isolated from the rest) and 10% rich assholes. Once it gets to the point where people associate the party name with shit, anyone who wants to win outside of a couple of small enclaves switches to the Democratic party, so one of the D factions includes a lot of former Republicans (like Tulsi Gabbard’s father, who led the push against same-sex marriage in the 1990s).
Lately the state GOP has been cutting into their talent pool even more by making it clear that anyone who doesn’t worship Trump isn’t welcome. The House minority leader, Beth Fukumoto, spoke at the Womens’ March and was de facto expelled from the party (she’s now running for Congress as a Dem), and the only recent Congressperson they’ve had (Charles Djou, who only won because he got the usual 38% of the vote in a special election where Dems were split between two others) just left to become an independent.
It sounds like the kind of place a more parliamentarian/coalition system would work, or at least be more representative. It’s always seemed weird to me that Hawaii as a state could elect a DINO like Tulsi Gabbard. Ok, maybe I’m being too hard on her, but she doesn’t seem to be in line with the state and it’s not like the party doesn’t have deep bench there. OTOH it’s not like I live there or have recent connections.
Go Teachers!
She was the best of a bad bunch. I initially supported someone else because he sounded good on paper, but he turned out to be a complete idiot. There was a couple of conservadems and a handful of inexperienced nobody progressives, which unfortunately is how these races usually turn out. She also ran in the 2nd district, which includes outer Oahu and the other islands, even though she lives in the 1st (central Honolulu). That meant she was able to gloss over her cultist ties and conservative activism on behalf of her father, which were mostly known on Oahu, and instead claim a miraculous conversion to progressivism due to going to Iraq.
That sounds like a weak party structure, to be honest. Good candidates don’t just pop up randomly, they really do need to be nurtured, given training, given resources. It’s very rare for a good candidate to just waltz in.
It is. The party is dominated by an old-boy structure (and old-girl now), which leans somewhat conservative but more importantly doesn’t really care about ideology. But they’re not that popular, so it doesn’t mean they win that often, but legislative elections are ossified and no one loses or even gets a primary challenge. E.g., as Dan Inouye was dying he tried to get Gov. Abercrombie to appoint his protege, Colleen Hanabusa, to replace him even though she is quite a bit more conservative than him. Abercrombie instead picked his lt. gov., Brian Schatz, in part as a fuck you to the Inouye machine that dominates the party. Fortunately Schatz has turned out to be great, possibly the only good thing Abercrombie did.