CLAREMORE, Okla. -- Nearly 300 people came out Friday on their day off from school to raise their voices and signs, not just for higher teacher pay but properly funding education.
Teachers are counting down the day to the statewide walkout. In the meantime, they rallied around education in Rogers County.
"This is a day we have off and we chose to use this day to come advocate for our children," said Jill Andrews, a Claremore High School teacher.
Many are unhappy about the Governor's recent effort to give teacher's a $6,100 raise. While grateful for a step in the right direction, they don't see it as a permanent fix.
"72 dollars per student per year, that’s not enough, that doesn’t even buy one textbook," said Andrews.
They want state leaders to fund education and invest in the students.
"Their idea is to stack 'em deeper, teach 'em cheaper, so they can take the money and put it wherever it keeps going, which is not into our classroom," said Katie Cox, a Sequoyah Elementary teacher.
One of the main issues these teachers have seen is classroom sizes expanding but the amount of teacher dwindling.
"We just don’t have the ability and we don’t have the resources to be able to talk to them one on one like they need," said Cox.
One teacher said she wrote to a legislator about the crisis. She said he responded that their schools received funding for textbooks last year.
She said even though the money didn't make it to the books she can read between the lines.
"Common sense says that if our money doesn’t go into our textbooks, it’s because our buildings are falling down it’s because my classroom tables have been welded back together three times in the past 24 months," said Cox.
Teachers continue to stand their ground until they feel legislators get the numbers right.
Many of these supporters plan on heading to the state capitol on Monday.
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