[Clarallel]

What’s the matter with Oklahoma?
Low teacher pay and severe budget cuts are driving schools to the brink.


https://www.economist.com/news/unite...k-whats-matter

[rubygreta]

I saw that. What is it, $45,000 after teaching for 25 years? Start at $31,000 with raises of like $500/year. Pathetic. I can imagine how low property taxes must be. You get what you pay for.

[StillwaterTownie]

Most Oklahomans feel poor and overtaxed as it is. Therefore they are willing to live with substandard schools and substandard government throughout in return for no tax hikes. How true this is was well proven when Oklahoma voters rejected a one cent tax hike in sales tax to better fund schools and pay teachers more. Gov. Fallin said a couple years ago that the income tax cuts were so that Oklahomans could have more money in their pockets to spend.

The article spoke of how well treated oil companies are at tax time. In another way, it was so bad and wrong that workers couldn't sue oil companies, who were hurt on the job. Only quite recently did the Oklahoma Supreme Court rule that wasn't right or fair.

Many Oklahomans have to work two or three jobs. Teachers can just suffer along and do the same. If you live in Oklahoma and are mighty pissed off with how badly the state is run, then you need to move to a better state, like Texas or Colorado. Unlike Oklahoma, both states don't tax food. Texas doesn't even have a state income tax.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by rubygreta

I saw that. What is it, $45,000 after teaching for 25 years? Start at $31,000 with raises of like $500/year. Pathetic. I can imagine how low property taxes must be. You get what you pay for.

You can pull up property taxes on every county's tax assessors site. Very low compared to other states.

45k/anno minus breaks comes to how much per actual working week? Comes to how much household income?

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Most Oklahomans feel poor and overtaxed as it is. Therefore they are willing to live with substandard schools and substandard government throughout in return for no tax hikes. How true this is was well proven when Oklahoma voters rejected a one cent tax hike in sales tax to better fund schools and pay teachers more. Gov. Fallin said a couple years ago that the income tax cuts were so that Oklahomans could have more money in their pockets to spend.

The article spoke of how well treated oil companies are at tax time. In another way, it was so bad and wrong that workers couldn't sue oil companies, who were hurt on the job. Only quite recently did the Oklahoma Supreme Court rule that wasn't right or fair.

Many Oklahomans have to work two or three jobs. Teachers can just suffer along and do the same. If you live in Oklahoma and are mighty pissed off with how badly the state is run, then you need to move to a better state, like Texas or Colorado. Unlike Oklahoma, both states don't tax food. Texas doesn't even have a state income tax.

Have you ever paid TX real estate tax?

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Threestep

Have you ever paid TX real estate tax?

No, but people in Texas seem to tolerate it. If you're a landlord, just jack up your rent to cover it. If rent is higher in Texas than in Oklahoma, then you know why.

[Listener2307]

Originally Posted by Clarallel

What’s the matter with Oklahoma?
Low teacher pay and severe budget cuts are driving schools to the brink.


https://www.economist.com/news/unite...k-whats-matter

Yeah. They are driven to the brink of having to give up football. But they won't do that. They will whine about teachers salaries while paying high school football and basketball coaches a premium and busing their "heroes" all over the state so that they can learn "values".

I ain't listening. My own state of Mississippi does the same thing and I just brush it off. The educators in the state should show how serious they are about real education. Maybe then I would get interested.

Newcastle High school is down to four days of instruction. This is what else they do:

Athletics

The Newcastle Racers compete in many sports organized by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. The Racers won the Class 3A State Football Championship in 1992.
Fall Sports

• cheerleading

2013 State Champions, 2015 State Champions, 2012 National Champions,

• Football
• Cross Country
• Fast pitch Softball

2014 OSSAA Class 4A State Champions

• Volleyball

Winter Sports

• Boys' Basketball
• Girls' Basketball

2016 OSSAA Class 4A State Champions

• Wrestling

Spring Sports

• Slow Pitch Softball
• Track

State Champions: Ashley Bryant- Shot Put (2011, 2013) Katie Riojas- 300H (2012)

• Boys' Soccer
• Girls' Soccer
• Baseball
• Golf

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

Most Oklahomans feel poor and overtaxed as it is. Therefore they are willing to live with substandard schools and substandard government throughout in return for no tax hikes. How true this is was well proven when Oklahoma voters rejected a one cent tax hike in sales tax to better fund schools and pay teachers more. Gov. Fallin said a couple years ago that the income tax cuts were so that Oklahomans could have more money in their pockets to spend.

The article spoke of how well treated oil companies are at tax time. In another way, it was so bad and wrong that workers couldn't sue oil companies, who were hurt on the job. Only quite recently did the Oklahoma Supreme Court rule that wasn't right or fair.

Many Oklahomans have to work two or three jobs. Teachers can just suffer along and do the same. If you live in Oklahoma and are mighty pissed off with how badly the state is run, then you need to move to a better state, like Texas or Colorado. Unlike Oklahoma, both states don't tax food. Texas doesn't even have a state income tax.

The grass ain't always greener.

I lived in texas for over a decade. Paying those property taxes was always a big hit.

As for the OP, I totally agree that our teachers should be paid more. It is really sad. We're not only losing teachers to texas right and left, but now there's some even going to *gulp* Arkansas. Not a good look.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Listener2307

Yeah. They are driven to the brink of having to give up football. But they won't do that. They will whine about teachers salaries while paying high school football and basketball coaches a premium and busing their "heroes" all over the state so that they can learn "values".

I ain't listening. My own state of Mississippi does the same thing and I just brush it off. The educators in the state should show how serious they are about real education. Maybe then I would get interested.

Newcastle High school is down to four days of instruction. This is what else they do:

While Oklahoma coaches do get paid more than regular teachers they still are required to teach. The head football coach at Newcastle teaches for sections of world history every day as well as doing his sports obligations. Many coaches leave the state and go to Texas where they don't have to teach. Just coach.

Oklahoma has a milder problem that your state has in that they don't want public education at all. In Mississippi it is driven by racial issues. White parents in Mississippi don't want to pay taxes for black kids education when they are having to pay private school tuition. As a for instance, Hattiesburg High School is over 95% black because all the white kids are attending private schools or their families have moved to the Oak Grove district.

We have the same issues here but it isn't driven by the racial thing so much because we don't have the minority population that Mississippi does. But that mentality is taking over in Oklahoma as time goes by.