Statement from Shawn Hime, executive director of the Oklahoma State School Boards Association, on HB1033xx vote

Today’s disappointing vote rolled out the welcome mat for Texas, Kansas and Arkansas to lure away even more of Oklahoma’s talented teachers. Some lawmakers continue to play partisan politics while students and teachers continue to suffer. That’s unacceptable; they’ve suffered enough.

We are today in the same place we’ve been for years: in increasingly desperate need of solutions for the teacher shortage and a long-term funding plan for public education. Oklahomans can’t give up the fight because 700,000 children are counting on us.

I’m grateful to all of the Oklahomans who descended on the Capitol today in support of children and teachers; for the leaders and supporters of the Step Up Oklahoma coalition for their leadership and advocacy; and for the lawmakers who listened to Oklahomans who said our teachers and children deserve better.

Oklahomans must continue pushing their legislators to work collaboratively and demand they deliver a teacher pay raise. As voters, we must be ready come election day to hold our elected officials accountable.

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