These Teachers Went On Strike. Now They're Running For Elected Office.
Most have no political experience. They lack name recognition and fundraising bona fides. Some are not even on the ballot, having missed filing deadlines, and are instead waging write-in campaigns. They’re the longest of shots.
But in upcoming elections in Oklahoma, Arizona, and Kentucky — all red states where school staff have walked out in recent months over austerity funding — teachers are running for office.
They say they’re determined to not only vote out the superintendents, representatives, and senators who did not support their walkouts but to fill state governments with educators who know firsthand what more money can do for a classroom.
The educators share outsider status, dissatisfaction with the legislative process, and a sense of being shortchanged as public employees.
Take Craig Hoxie, who has been a science teacher in Oklahoma’s public school systems for 19 years. He thought he’d spend the last third of his career with his head down, “quietly teaching.”
Instead, this month, he became one of the hundreds of educators who walked more than 100 miles from Tulsa to Oklahoma City to protest cuts to teacher pay and classroom funding.
Hoxie took part in the march during a statewide strike that ultimately led to a mixed bag for educators: They got raises and promises of increased education revenue but not reliable explanations of where the money would come from in the future or how long it would last.
And a proposed ballot initiative could undo some of those promises come November.
So now, along with dozens of other teachers, Hoxie filed to put his name on a ballot.
“Even though we haven’t been able to pass the legislation we need to, we did start a movement of people who realize the only way to change this is to get involved in the political process,” he told BuzzFeed News.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/coralewis/teachers-strike-running-elected-office-oklahoma-arizona?utm_term=.dokP4v06K&bftwnews#.qeXqVpNo6
= new reply since forum marked as read
