TULSA, Okla. -- With just six days until the pending teacher walkout, one veteran educator is staying focused on another important date.
41st and Delaware has been home to Doctor Julie Davis for 35 years. Monday, won't be her first walkout.
"Back in 1990 and the legislation was 1017 and that had to do with a variety of things," Edison AP Biology teacher Julie Davis said. "Part of it was teacher pay."
She goes above and beyond for her students, like most teachers. Davis plans to meet with her students to prep them for AP tests, which are scheduled in May, if the walkout lasts for weeks.
"I don't really want to go against what our walkout means, but on the other hand these kids have paid money and they're trying to get college credit," Davis said. "I am their teacher and i need to be with them."
Monday night, the Oklahoma House passed a $447 million package that would increase taxes on things like cigarettes and fuel, which would then fund teacher salaries. The plan would increase salaries 15% to 18%, for an average of $6,100.
"It's not keeping up with inflation and it's not going to make us more competitive and it's not going to raise us from the bottom of that list of the lowest paid teachers," Davis.
But it's not enough.
"The OEA has rejected that as not coming close to what we were asking for," Davis.
With Monday just days away, Davis is not ready to leave this home but anxious to see a brighter future for teachers across the state.
"I don't know that they are going to scramble back in on Monday and all of a sudden fix it in one day," Davis said.
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