The lesson of the Oklahoma Walkout: There is a limit to what can be won if your legislature is bought  and paid for by the oil and gas industry, whose highest priority is low taxes, and by the Koch brothers and the DeVos family, which want to privatize public schools.

#RememberInNovember.

Teachers must get out and vote for candidates who support public schools. If they can’t find a good candidate, they should run for office themselves.

Politico reports:

OKLAHOMA TEACHER STRIKE ROLLING TO AN END: The Oklahoma Education Association announced Thursday that its members will be returning to the classroom, bringing a nine-day teacher walkout in the state to its end.

– Not all teachers support the union’s decision, and it remains unclear how many will break with union leaders. The Oklahoma City American Federation of Teachers, which operates independently from OEA, said it will poll its members Friday on whether to continue the walkout. But in a statement late Thursday, union President Ed Allen said, “Truthfully, there’s no one left to negotiate with in the statehouse.”

– “We need to face reality,” OEA President Alicia Priest said. “Despite tens of thousands of people filing into the Capitol and spilling out onto the grounds of this Capitol for nine days, we have seen no significant legislative movement since last Friday.” Priest said that meetings with leaders of the Oklahoma Senate on Thursday yielded no signs that lawmakers would seek more revenue to boost funding for public education.

– “Our members are saying they are ready to go back to their classrooms,” Priest said, citing a union poll that found 70 percent of members were unsure that continuing the walkout would lead to more concessions from lawmakers. “Now it’s time to shift our focus,” Priest added.

– Teachers in Oklahoma sought a three-year school funding plan that would boost spending for public education by $200 million, and secure raises for teachers and staff to the tune of $740 million. In the end, lawmakers boosted education funding by roughly $400 million through a deal reached shortly before the walkout began. The legislation will give teachers a pay hike of about $6,000 per year.

– Gov. Mary Fallin said in a statement that through the spending increases, “elected officials have proven they are committed to school children, teachers and educators.” Fallin said she is “glad teachers who participated in the union strike will return to teaching their students. They’ve been out for two weeks, and it’s time for them to get back to school.”

Parents and educators in Arizona—joined together as Save Our Schools Arizona- responded to a universal voucher plan enacted by the legislature by collecting over 100,000 signatures on behalf of a state referendum to block the law. Voucher advocates, funded by the Koch brothers, went to court to try to derail the referendum. The state courts permitted the referendum to go forward.

Voucher advocates fear a referendum because vouchers have always been defeated at the polls.

Now Governor Doug Ducey and the legislature are laying the groundwork to stop the referendum. They plan to repeal the law that is under challenge, then re-enact it with a new name. That would force the parents and educators to start their fight all over again.

Here is a column about the dispute:

”You knew this was coming.

“From the moment a grassroots group of Arizona citizens had the nerve to challenge our leaders and freeze their efforts to divert more of our money to private schools, You. Knew. This. Was. Coming.

“Republicans at the state Capitol are quietly talking about a plan to repeal the universal voucher program they passed last year — the one 100,000 citizens signed petitions to block and put on the November ballot — and replacing it with a new universal voucher program.

“This, in order to block voters from having the final say in November on whether we want to send hundreds of millions of dollars more to private schools at a time when public schools are woefully underfunded.

”Talks quietly under way

”The Republic’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Rob O’Dell are reporting that talks are underway on how to best do an end run around our constitutional right to veto laws our leaders have imposed.

“Sen. Bob Worsley, R-Mesa, who brokered the deal that allowed universal vouchers to pass last year, is apparently spearheading the sneak attack on your constitutional right to referendum.

“According to the Republic report, Worsley is talking to Gov. Doug Ducey’s office, other legislators and “outside groups”, which is code for the dark-money interests who spent big bucks getting Ducey and Republican legislators elected.

“The ones who want to expand Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (read: vouchers) to every child in the state. Or at least, the ones who can afford to supplement an ESA with thousands of dollars more in order to cover private school tuition…

”Ducey, the GOP-controlled Legislature and their dark money handlers are furious that Save Our Schools Arizona managed to stop their universal voucher law by referring it to the ballot.

“By repealing last year’s law, Prop. 305 goes away. Then they simply pass a new version of the same thing, requiring citizens to start over again if they want citizens to have the final say.

“Which they do.

“Dawn Penich-Thacker, spokeswoman for Save Our Schools Arizona, vowed to mount a new referendum if our leaders go forward with this sneak attack. She said she’s been approached about the idea of repealing the voucher law and replacing it with a voucher plan that comes with a sweetener — 10 percent pay raises for public school teachers.”

The columnists says that the legislators acknowledge that the state can afford to raise teachers’ salaries.

“Here’s an alternative idea, Sen. Worsley, Gov Ducey: How about leaving the voucher law intact and allowing Arizona voters to exercise their constitutional right – their right – to decide whether they want a two-tier system of schools: public schools for the have-nots and private schools for the haves.

“And since we now know that there is money available, how about you raise teacher pay by 10 percent? Because you should.

“Of course, the dark money forces that increasing are buying our state’s elections won’t like it.”

So, the plan is to try to buy off the teachers in exchange for vouchers that will drain funding from their schools.

How cynical can you be?