Cost-cutting states free up money for education

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Cost-cutting states are trying to keep schools funded as teacher unrest over low pay and overcrowded classrooms continues into a second year.
Pressure from voters is proving effective in getting states to put more money on the table, possibly as effective as picket lines. In Texas, Republican lawmakers have proposed $5,000 teacher raises and $9 billion in additional classroom funding. The proposals follow the GOP’s worst election in a generation in Texas.
New Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is also pushing ahead with an additional $1,200 pay increase for classroom teachers, a year after several Republican opponents of a pay package were ousted in primaries.
A nationwide teacher-led movement began with walkouts in West Virginia in 2018. In Kentucky this month, recurring “sickouts” for teacher protests caused schools to cancel classes.