Teachers, Administrators Plan Rally For More Education Funding
Oklahoma educators hope Monday’s rally at the Capitol will yield more results
By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
One year ago, an estimated 25,000 teachers, parents, administrators and students descended on the state Capitol for an unprecedented public education rally.
The Oklahoma Legislature may not have written common education a $230 million check to return appropriations to pre-recession levels, but educators and lawmakers alike say the 2014 rally wasn’t for naught — and that’s precisely why they’re planning to return for a second rally on Monday.
“I think we’ve had more people engaged in the conversation than ever before in the last year,” Broken Arrow Superintendent Jarod Mendenhall said. “Parents know what an unfunded mandate is now. We are more awake, more aware now, and our legislators are going to be forced to be better at what they do and they’re going to have to listen.”
Claremore Superintendent Mike McClaren said he sought and received local school board approval to allow his teachers to attend for a second year in a row because he feels so strongly about what was accomplished last year.