I wonder if teachers in these red states also lean hard R.
Speaking anecdotally, I have a few patients and friends that are teachers in the town I work in, and a lot of children that are in districts Tha get cut to four days a week.
I find that teachers are often Democrats, but by no means the majority. A lot of them fail to see the connection between trash Republican policies and their current situation.
This last election, we voted for Trump and against a small tax that would help fund education, two choices that would plainly further degrade our schools. I know multiple teachers and either moved to a different state, or retired as a result. Others that work in bigger districts that are unaffected bury their heads in the sand and pretend it's all good.
I asked an elementary school science teacher about how she felt, and she said that she's optimistic and that things can't​ get worse than the Obama years. I'll see her again in a couple of months and I hope that, as she's someone responsible for the critical thinking of children, that she can admit that both those votes were a disaster.
Children attending four days a week are so clearly at a disadvantage, that even they notice. It's so clear that several parents are physically moving or opting to home school.
There was a sign on a main street by my house that said "Republicans ruined our schools, now let Democrats fix it". Someone removed it pretty shortly after it went up. The culture if ignorance is why I'm leaving this state in the next year. If they want to self destruct they can do it without me.
I see a lot of the conservatives in social media when commenting on this story using the 'it's because of the energy sector not taxes' line too. Maybe someone smarter than me on state budgets can explain how valid that is or not, I'm curious
Dropping gas prices have been hurting Oklahoma for a while, true. You would think that we would find some way to compensate for that in the last several years, but we don't. We sit there and cry about energy and our schools, but we won't approve a small tax increase to educate our kids. You can blame energy for the first year or two, but Republican leadership solution is to do absolutely nothing. Anyone who uses that line is putting party over their own children and it's repulsive.
