Nothing symbolizes the school financial crisis in Oklahoma, just like images of old, tattered textbooks that students still use.
Pictures of textbooks with pages missing and tape roots went viral on social media. Not to mention the geographical books published in the Soviet Union still existed, or social studies books, a new three presidencies ago.
From all the photos posted below, this mother and former school teacher from Ada, Oklahoma, can be very discouraging.
In a Facebook post, Shelly Brian Parker describes how excited her daughter was to find out that the star of country music Blake Shelton used it in first grade reading textbook. Then she describes how embarrassed she was when she realized that Shelton 41 and used the same book 36 years ago when it was new.
Photo explains why teachers are so angry with Oklahoma legislators, and why they are on strike for seven days. They oppose a decade of state tax cuts, which caused a significant reduction in spending on education, forcing about 20 per cent of state schools to go to a four-day working week in accordance with the schedule and pushes the average teacher salaries in rank 49th in the country. Teachers have not received a raise in 10 years.
Although lawmakers agreed to increase their pay, teachers say that’s not enough. They want the state to restore funding for public schools cut from the budget since 2008, more than $ 200 million.
And they want their children to have textbooks that are not as old as Blake Shelton.
Sourse: vox.com
