Education and teacher funding is so bad in this state that teachers are now begging for money on street corners.
That’s not hyperbole.
It is no secret to Oklahomans that state education funding — and state funding in general — has been in crisis for several years. Due to that lack of money, Tulsa Public Schools third-grade teacher Teresa Danks said she now pays $2,000-$3,000 out of her own pocket annually to provide her students with basic school supplies.
Extreme problems call for extreme measures. In July, Danks decided to stake a Tulsa streetcorner with a sign reading, “Teacher needs school supplies! Anything helps. Thank you.”
The teacher told Tulsa’s Fox 23 News that she once received $55 in six minutes — double what she earns per hour as a teacher.
Great Scott! If it was not such a demeaning proposition to have members of one of the noblest public professions panhandling on streetcorners (But never on medians!), some might say Danks had cracked the school-funding enigma.
Overwhelming support led Danks to launch a GoFundMe croundfunding page to help other teachers meet their supply goals, too.
The page, created July 19, had raised more than $26,000 toward its $50,000 goal by press time.
We here at Chicken-Fried News applaud Danks for taking matters into her own hands. Perhaps state lawmakers should be made to ask passing drivers to pay for their office needs. Something tells us they’d see fewer singles than single-fingers.
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