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Oklahoma Education Association Calls For End Of Teacher Walkout

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFSM) — The Oklahoma teacher walkout has officially ended after nine days. The Oklahoma Education Association announced in a news conferenc...

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFSM) -- The Oklahoma teacher walkout has officially ended after nine days.

The Oklahoma Education Association announced in a news conference Thursday (April 12) that it will end the teacher walkout, according to our sister station KFOR.

The association said that it had polled its members and learned that 70 percent were not sure if any additional funding would be found even if the walkout continued.

“We need to face reality. Despite tens of thousands of people filling the Capitol and spilling out onto the grounds of this Capitol for nine days, we have seen no significant legislative movement since last Friday,” OEA President Alicia Priest said.

Priest said that lawmakers refused to "cross the finish line." She said that while the walkout is over, the fight for increased funding will continue.

“We have been at the state capitol for the last two weeks, doing everything we can to try to get as much as possible for the children of Oklahoma. We are proud of what we have accomplished, but truthfully there’s no one left to negotiate with in the statehouse,” said Ed Allen, president of the Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers. “The Oklahoma Education Association has its own process for ending the walkout; we have ours. The Oklahoma City AFT went out with a vote, and we will go back in based on a vote. Tonight, our union will hold a telephone town hall meeting with our members to discuss the situation and listen to what teachers have to say. Tomorrow, we will take a vote of OK City teachers on whether to return to the classroom.”

“Oklahoma City’s teachers have been barnstorming the capitol to secure everything they can and want to be back in the classroom, teaching. We’ve fought hard and we’ve won some critical gains, but it’s clear this legislature and governor will move no further, despite the need. So our attention will turn to November. We will fight up and down every ballot to elect people who believe in public education and who will invest in our public schools and kids,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Poteau High School history teacher and president of the local OEA chapter, Tom Brennan says a lot was accomplished, but there's even more work to be done.

"The biggest thing that was accomplished and I can`t stress this enough is awareness," Brennan said. "I don`t think people really knew what was going on in our classroom."

According to the OEA, the support for the walkout has brought forth the largest teacher pay raise in Oklahoma history, raises for school support staff and $479 million in education funding.

But teachers said that funding is short of what they hoped for.

"There are things we didn`t get and that`s why we`ve got to continue to fight," Brennan said.

Teachers said this won't be the last time lawmakers will hear from them.

"We created a movement for education and it didn`t die today," Brennan said. "It`s just starting."

Many teachers said they will make their voices heard again at the polls in November.

In the coming days, superintendents of each school district are expected to determine how the days missed during the walkout will be made up.

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