Since the teacher walkout in April 2018, the state of Oklahoma has increased the school funding formula, a combination of local, state and federal revenue that is then distributed according to each state’s specific “formula,” by 19 percent, according to Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — one of the biggest increases of any state […]
teacher walkout
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Chicken-Fried News: Walkout block-out
Last year’s nine-day teacher walkout made national headlines, drawing tens of thousands of teachers and supporters to the state Capitol where they demonstrated their support for increasing public education funding. The monetary outcome fell far short of what educators requested, largely because legislators preferred to compare teachers to whining children rather than consider even for […]
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Chicken-Fried News: 2018 takeout
Fallin away The queen is dead; long live the king. Mary Fallin’s eight-year reign of terror over the state is over, and her successor Kevin Stitt is a political outsider who campaigned on his version of “drain the swamp” but has surrounded himself with insiders during his transition to the Governor’s Mansion. Oh, Gov. Fallin, […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Teaching lessons
As the two-week teacher walkout failed to get the increased school funding that it hoped in April, teachers and Oklahoma Education Association licked their wounds around the rallying cry of “Remember in November.” If last week’s primaries were any indication, the education coalition is following through on its call to action. Two of the 10 […]
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Primary preview
It is not difficult to find something to get excited about this primary season in Oklahoma. With a major state question in play, a logjam of candidates in the gubernatorial primaries, numerous state House and Senate seat openings and remnants of political tension from the April teacher walkout underscoring it all, intrigue is not lacking […]
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Nuclear option
He is often called the godfather of alternative rock music, but if a few things go in his favor this year, Tyson Meade could soon be called something very different: United States Congressman. In April, Meade — most known as frontman of the late-1980s and ’90s bands Defenestration and Chainsaw Kittens, which have been cited […]
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Walk, run
The moment Lauren Richter, a fifth-grade teacher in Shawnee, decided to run for office came during the fourth day of the statewide teacher walkout, when educators and their allies continued to demand additional funding for public schools. Educators filled the state Capitol to capacity. Thousands of teachers remained outside the building. “There was no one […]
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Class session
There are a few songs in the canon of classic rock music that are ubiquitously known: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” One could argue that Foreigner — led by the songwriting talents of English guitarist and band co-founder Mick Jones (not to be confused with […]
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Chicken-Fried News: Textbook kerfuffle
Remember opening up a newly issued textbook and flipping to the inside page to see who else has used the book? Maybe your secret older crush used it a few years ago and you can use it as an icebreaker that leads to a long relationship. You can only dream! A 7-year-old in Ada became […]