Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
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If it's just a matter of going to other states to make more, why are all the surrounding states experiencing a shortage as well?

Why is there a *nationwide* problem?

Also, Oklahoma is near the bottom in cost of living; salaries are only part of the equation.


I do believe that most teachers deserve to be paid more. But I stand by my point that the unions and the teachers themselves do more to discourage new teachers than anything else.

It's not the only reason, but it's a big one.
I could not disagree more. Teachers get paid crappy wages in Oklahoma -- and our ridiculous governor and legislature continue to pile on requirements for how they are supposed to teach. Morale is in the toilet in Oklahoma -- I have three educators in my family and they say this is by far the worst time ever to be a teacher in this state. And the reason morale is bad is not because of teacher's unions. Get real.

My daughter's new art teacher is forced to pay for their supplies out of her own pocket. One of her classes still doesn't have textbooks.

Pete, I love you, but the attitude you express here is the same attitude used by our legislators to continue to pay teachers wages that barely exceed the poverty line. They just blame the unions and continue spending money on prisons -- while offering our hydrofracturing companies outdated tax breaks. This same attitude is reflected in their abject failure to properly fund higher education.

Perversely, Boren's success at raising OU's endowment is used as an excuse to deny OU funding. "They don't need public money. Look how much they have raised."

I don't really care about Texas' education problems. I care about Oklahoma's. And funding education is clearly not a priority in this state.

One more thing: since when has the dissoluton of trade unions led to higher wages? What an absurd argument to make. On a personal note, I have a couple of teacher friends who were very anti-union and anti-teachers union. Both of them have joined one of the unions in the last two years. They have done a 180-degree switch on their positions about the teachers' unions because they realize they would be in even worse shape without their lobbying efforts.