Richardson; "It's Time To End The Teacher Walkout"

4/7/2018

After a week of bizarre lack of state authority to maintain an orderly public education system, there is a growing frustration among the citizens. For many Oklahomans, It seems no one is willing to be the adult in the room. Not the local school boards, the State Superintendent, and certainly not our current governor.
Gubernatorial candidate Gary Richardson released the following statement calling for the end of the weeklong teacher walkout.

"I have said from the beginning I believe the teachers' outrage over the lack of leadership at the State Capitol was justified. But my support turns to anger when the union tactics are less about education and more about pushing a liberal agenda demanding higher taxes and increased government spending.

Working Oklahomans took a pay cut in order to fund a teacher pay raise -- and that's something I don't take lightly.

The state approved almost $500 million in new taxes to provide a $6,100 raise for every teacher and to allocate $50 million more for classrooms which is even more than they originally requested. Yet the union pushes for even more tax hikes and school districts are starting to declare cancellations for Monday.

The results of statewide standardized testing, which began this week, is a critical factor in determining our federal education funding. If the union continues their push for more and more taxes, Oklahoma risks losing close to $700 million in federal funds, and the union will have to answer for that.

I encourage individual teachers and school board members across Oklahoma to evaluate, without union interference, whether the walkout has strayed from its original purpose.

In politics, as in life, no one gets everything they want."

This statement was taken from Gary Richardson's press wire.

There appears to be only one challenger to State Education Superintendent, Joy Hofmeister. John Cox is a Democrat attempting his 2nd challenge for the office. No other Republican appears to be in the race.

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Sooner Politics
Editorial

David Van Risseghem reports the events and adds some perspective.

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David Van Risseghem is the Publisher of SoonerPolitics.org. The resource is committed to informing & mobilizing conservative Oklahomans for civic reform. This endeavor seeks to utilize the efforts of all cooperative facets of the Conservative movement...

"No politician 'checks off every box" in your list of issues. You have to prioritize and use personal discretion regarding every current and future issue that you can imagine. Then you have to also judge integrity & consistency. A candidate's openness to study the issues & courage to think for themselves. Then you need to review their honesty & work ethic. I respect any voter's decision, when they've informed themselves and took voting seriously." - David Van Risseghem

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