AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Cost-cutting states are trying to keep schools happy as teacher unrest over low pay and overcrowded classrooms continues into a second year.
Pressure from voters is forcing states to put more money on the table as much as picket lines. In Texas, Republican lawmakers have proposed $5,000 teacher raises and $9 billion in additional classroom funding.
The proposals follow the GOP’s worst election in a generation in Texas. New Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is also pushing ahead with an additional $1,200 pay increase for classroom teachers, a year after several Republican opponents of a pay package were ousted in primaries.
A nationwide teacher revolt began with walkouts in West Virginia in 2018. In Kentucky this month, recurring “sickouts” for teacher protests forced schools to cancel classes.
(Copyright 2019, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
