'Teachers' Spring' forcing lawmakers to
find money for schools
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[May 02, 2018]
(Reuters) - It has been called the
"Teachers' Spring" in the United States, with educators from five states
staging an unprecedented wave of protests demanding increases in pay and
school budgets.
Encouraged by progressive resistance to President Donald Trump and the
#MeToo movement, the protests by the nation's teachers, more than
three-quarters of whom are women, mark the first statewide walkouts
since the 1990s.
Some educators have likened their movement to the "Arab Spring", a
series of anti-government uprisings that hit Arab countries in North
Africa and the Middle East beginning in 2010.
The movement has already prompted lawmakers to allocate pay increases
for teachers and more money for schools in West Virginia, Oklahoma and
Colorado, while Arizona's legislature is also trying to hammer out a
deal.
WHY THEY BEGAN
The strikes started in West Virginia in February and then spread to
Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arizona, all of them Republican-controlled states
that put limits on education spending during the 2007-2009 recession and
never fully removed them. Teachers in Colorado, which has a Democratic
governor, walked out last week.
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According to the National Education Association, a group representing
public school teachers nationwide, the average teacher salary in the
United States decreased by four percent from 2008‒09 to 2017‒18, after
inflation adjustment.
The West Virginia strike, which shut schools for almost two weeks, ended
with a five percent pay raise. Teachers in Oklahoma returned to
classrooms after the legislature passed its first major tax increases in
a quarter century, raising about $450 million in revenue for education.
Arizona teachers have sought a 20 percent pay rise. Arizona Governor
Doug Ducey on Friday announced a deal with state legislative leaders to
raise teachers' pay 20 percent by 2020, but it was unclear how the money
would be raised.
SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS
Teachers' demands for pay increases have gained widespread public
support and won bi-partisan attention from legislators ahead of November
midterm elections.
But conservative groups, who oppose education funding increases through
tax increases, point to data from education reform group EdChoice
showing that nationwide, per-pupil funding adjusted for inflation rose
27 percent between 1992 and 2014 as schools added ranks of non-teaching
support staff.
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Participants take part in a march in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., April
26, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. Christy
Chavis/File Photo via REUTERS
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These conservative groups say school districts need to cut back on
non-teaching staff rather than seek bigger budgets.
WHICH STATES COULD BE NEXT TO SEE A WALKOUT?
The protests have been largely driven by social media, rather than
union leadership, allowing activists to organize rapidly. Arizona's
movement began with a Facebook page that encouraged teachers to show
up for work wearing red - the color of the movement.
They have moved West through states where teacher pay is among the
lowest in the country, per-pupil funding has fallen in real terms
since the recession and where state legislatures largely control
teacher salaries. Other states with a similar profile include
Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, New Mexico, Utah and South
Dakota, according to a study by Brookings Institution analyst
Michael Hansen.
A teachers' group in North Carolina has called for a march on the
state capitol on May 16. At the same time, legislatures for states
such as South Dakota and Alabama have recently voted to increase
teacher pay, possibly heading off protests.
Walkouts crossed a political divide when they spread to Colorado,
where Democrats control the governorship and lower house and
Republicans hold the senate. Other states with mixed political
control and relatively low teacher pay include New Mexico and
Nevada.
(Reporting By Andrew Hay; Editing by Bill Tarrant, Robert Birsel)
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