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Smaller-Than-Expected Crowd Gathers At State Capitol For Oklahoma Education Rally

Nowhere near the 50,000 anticipated education supporters turned out Monday for a rally at the state Capitol - estimates indicate the crowd was closer to 5,000 - but the teachers that were there made their presence known.

Wearing T-shirts from their hometown schools, attendees wandered the halls of the Capitol and congregated outside legislators' offices to tell lawmakers that their shrinking budgets are making it difficult to give kids a quality education - and they need more funding.

A similar rally held last year drew an estimated 25,000 people.

Janet Weaver, a teacher at Hartshorne High School, says sometimes her school doesn’t have enough money for even the most basic things.

"I buy pencils for my students. I buy paper for my students," Weaver said. "If they don’t have a pencil they can’t do my work."

Raising teacher pay to the regional average was another rally cry. Brianne Peters, a Pre-K teacher from Maud Public Schools, said the $28,000 she makes per year doesn't cut it.

“We’re not asking to make a million dollars — we’re just asking for a livable wage," Peters said.

Oklahoma is currently ranked 48th in the nation for teacher pay according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

State Sen. Jason Smalley says a $611 million budget shortfall will make it difficult-- if not impossible-- to give the educators the additional funding they want.

"The money aspect is very easy for me - the state of Oklahoma doesn't have it," Smalley said. "So we can't give money where we don't have that money."

Rally-goers also want legislators to do-away with high stakes testing-- such as the End of Instruction Exams that high schoolers must pass to graduate.

State Sen. Ron Sharp — the Vice Chair for the Senate Education Committee — said teachers need to be more reliable voters and contact their legislators more often.

"You can’t just come up here one time and expect us to act- the squeaky wheel gets the grease in politics," Sharp said.

He says if they become more active in the political game—they’re much more likely to get what they want.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Clark Jolley says lawmakers intend to shield education from cuts as much as possible, but that will lead to bigger reductions for other state agencies.

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Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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