Oklahoma students rally outside the state capitol in support of the ongoing teachers’ walkout for education funding, Thursday, April 5, 2018. (Photo: Candice Bernd)
Also see “Red State Rebellion: Inside the Oklahoma Teacher Walkout.”
Fed-up teachers in right-to-work states like Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona are continuing to press demands of their majority-Republican legislators who have slashed corporate tax rates over the years, shortchanging public education and other public services.
In a special Friday session, the Oklahoma state legislature passed two bills teachers had been pushing as additional sources of revenue for education: HB 3375, the “ball and dice” legislation will expand tribal gambling, and HB 1019XX, which requires Amazon and similar online retailers to collect state sales tax on items sold through their platforms from third-party vendors. The two bills raised an additional $44 million in funding for teachers and students in Oklahoma.
But schools in Oklahoma are closed again this week as more than 40,000 teachers, students and supporters — potentially the largest crowd yet — packed the capitol again Monday to push for the last pieces of education revenue needed to meet their demands of $200 million for new annual education funding. Teachers are asking Republican Gov. Mary Fallin to veto a repeal of a $5-per-night hotel and motel tax that was part of the initial tax package passed by legislators in late March, and for lawmakers to pass a bill that would remove a capital gains exemption. Lawmakers discussed the capital gains bill Monday, which teachers say could raise $100 million in revenue.
“We need to invest that money that only goes to the super-wealthy and invest that in all of our citizens,” Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), told Truthout outside the state capitol building Thursday. “We’re really close to gaining all of [our] asks. … We need our legislature to understand that we can’t be in this same…