Teachers have been walking out all year. Now they're walking straight to the ballot box
Teachers on strike in Vancouver, WA. on Aug. 29. (Amanda Cowan / Associated Press)
What unfolded in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona last spring was not supposed to happen. Tens of thousands of teachers went on strike in bright red states where government-employee unions are weak.
They were boiling over, angry at low pay and lawmakers who kept cutting taxes while letting school funding sink to woeful levels. The teachers in those states won raises, and so did the ones who walked out in Kentucky and Colorado.
On the eve of Labor Day, many teachers are still boiling over. More than 30,000 teachers in Los Angeles voted Thursday to authorize a strike if their union and school district fail to agree on a contract. Earlier in the week, teachers in Seattle voted to strike in September if their union and school district don’t reach a deal. And North Carolina’s teachers are inching closer toward a statewide walkout.
Whether or not the strike wave continues, it’s clear that teachers and their unions have been galvanized into focusing on the November elections. They are seeking to elect lawmakers who will support public education, not starve it. Some teachers are trying to become lawmakers themselves.
As teachers flex their political muscle, their unions are facing a coordinated attack.
Scores of teachers are running for political office in states where educators walked off the job earlier this year. They’re on the ballot in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Kentucky, Colorado and North Carolina. Sixty are running for office in Oklahoma alone.
They include Craig Hoxie, a high school physics teacher in Tulsa who was making less than $50,000 a year after 19 years of teaching. Hoxie said he decided to run during last April’s strike while he was walking in the teachers’ 110-mile march from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.
“We need to get our funding back to levels where we will be able to sustain our operations Continue reading: Teachers have been walking out all year. Now they're walking straight to the ballot box
