and I've been in education for 10 years.
I’ve hit rock bottom because it’s exhausting.
I cut hair at home.
I have cleaned houses.
You know, the kids joke with the teachers about being a hustler, but to be a teacher
in Oklahoma you almost have to.
This is Kily and Angela.
Both are teachers at public schools in Oklahoma City.
Both are single mothers with three kids.
And, like thousands of teachers across Oklahoma, both are barely making it.
This is how much money I have in the bank.
53 cents.
I have a cut off notice.
I have a past due phone and cable bill too.
This kind of lifestyle is shockingly common among Oklahoma teachers.
And in 2018, they finally reached a breaking point.
We love children and we love to teach.
It’s ingrained in us.
It’s what we do.
It’s who we are.
And we’re not being compensated for it.
And we’re not gonna be able to do it anymore.
Oklahoma teachers are the lowest paid in the nation by some measures, making an average
salary of about $42,000.
You could work at a gas station and make more.
This came in the mail and it’s terrifying.
And it is foreclosure paperwork on my house.
I corresponded with Kily and Angela every day for months and was shocked to see that
two highly educated people with full-time jobs could be so close to bankruptcy.
I make $42,600 a year, and that’s supporting me and my three children, and I can’t make
it anymore.
I’m currently one car payment behind two loan payments behind.
Last year at our school we had food pantry.
We were sending as much home with the teachers as we were with the students.
I wanted to know why thousands of teachers felt compelled to walk out of class on April 2nd.
So I asked Kily and Angela to show me what getting by on an Oklahoma teacher’s salary
actually looks like.
A government program called WIC helps Kily pay for groceries.
But it’s usually not enough, and she often relies on family members and handouts to feed
her kids.
We got these boxes.
They sent food home with the children and they sent food home with the teachers.
So I’ve got about a month’s worth of Saturday afternoon lunch.
Angela’s life is not too different.
Despite the fact that she’s been teaching for nearly 30 years, she only makes about
$42,000 before taxes.
To fill in the financial gap, she drives the bus before and after school, tutors, sells
quilts, and drives for Lyft.
Her day usually begins around 5 am.
I am walking out the door at 5:35.
Yay, I’m going to be on time actually.
Today, Angela’s going to Walmart before her morning bus route to buy supplies for
her classroom.
Oh that’s cute.
This will get us our butterflies and flowers.
Now I have to grab some snacks because they stay hungry.
It’s pretty much common knowledge that teachers often shell out their own money to pay for
class supplies.
And it’s not chump change.
A 2016 report showed that teachers across the U.S. pay an average of $500 a year on
supplies, and that 10% of teachers spend more than $1,000.
That was an expensive trip.
$45.64 that I just spent on my classroom in one day.
Teachers do get a small tax deduction for out-of-pocket expenses, but it doesn’t even
get close to what many are spending.
$250.
That’s all I can claim.
I don’t know any teachers that only expense— We spend that much in a month is what I’m
trying to say.
This is perhaps even more necessary for teachers in Oklahoma, as the state is near the bottom
in per-student spending.
Education funding has dwindled over the years, as Oklahoma’s republican-led congress has
repeatedly slashed taxes for businesses and top income earners.
The latest round of budget cuts was so massive, it forced 20% of public schools to switch
to a four-day week.
Our district has embraced the four-day week.
Last year we were able to save $180,000.
This isn’t the state’s only embarrassment.
Oklahoma also has a significant teacher shortage, as thousands have left for higher-paying positions
in other states.
In one survey, educators who left said they made, on average, nearly $20,000 more than
they did in Oklahoma.
Even the state’s 2016 Teacher of the Year moved away for better pay.
I don’t know what it’s gonna take for this state to wake up and realize that we
have a serious, serious issue.
We haven't had a pay raise in 10 years, and I've been in education for 10 years.
So imagine going into the career that you love and doing it for 10 years and never getting
paid a dollar more than what you got paid when you went in.
Would you continue to do it?
In a scramble to make up for the shortage, many schools have brought in Emergency Certified
teachers, or ‘Emergency Certs’.
This issue has exploded in the last few years, with a nearly 600 percent increase in emergency
certifications issued since 2014.
I have an aunt that was here this weekend and she’s begging me to come to Texas.
She’s like, ‘Kily I just got my first paycheck and it’s twice what I was making
in Oklahoma.
You don’t have to martyr yourself.
But if we all leave then who’s here for these kids?
More Emergency Certs?
I don’t want to leave these children with somebody that’s not certified to do what
I do.
I don’t want to leave these kids ‘cause I love them.
I don’t want to leave these kids ‘cause I’ve been in this community for ten years.
At this point, Kily is not only counting down the days until the state-wide walkout, but
she’s counting down the money left in her bank account—literally to the penny.
I’ve made my budget for the rest of the week.
$40 for a full tank of gas, $3 to $5 for grad school parking…
Kily just sold some extra stuff, and after budgeting, she figures she has about $14 in
spending money until payday.
Over the next few days, Kily does everything she can to stretch her last few bucks.
So this is what we do to make our own soap because we can’t afford Tide Pods.
This mayonnaise with one tablespoon a piece will do laundry for months and months and
months to come.
So this is me digging through change in the car.
At 7-Eleven.
A teacher went in and is buying me a soda because I am down to five bucks.
Hopefully tonight for dinner my grandparents are gonna feed the kids, and maybe one of
my cohort members at grad school will bring me something to eat.
A day before payday, Kily is literally down to this bag of change, which she brings to a Coinstar.
That’s how much money I have until tomorrow—payday.
Wow.
I’m pushing for you guys.
Thank you.
Y’all deserve it for sure.
I appreciate that more than anything.
Should’a been a long time ago.
Yup.
At this point, the walkout is just a few days away.
The story is dominating the news and everybody seems to have an opinion on it.
Angela: Do you guys think we should continue to walk out?
We should pay em, ‘cause our teachers deserve it.
Angela: So do you think the teachers walking out is the way to get the legislators…
Oh yeah.
If the teachers compromise, it’s not gonna work.
Angela: ‘Cause we don’t have enough—
Angela: Yes.
In a last ditch effort to avoid a strike, Oklahoma legislators passed a small tax increase
on cigarettes and gas, giving teachers a $6,000 raise.
This was far from the $10,000 raise that educators asked for, but it was still a huge deal, considering
state lawmakers haven’t increased taxes in nearly 30 years.
You can't call it a raise when it's not a raise.
It's not a raise.
If you do the math, it would take $6,000 tomorrow to bring me up to what I made in 2009,
just for inflation.
So how do you feel now that the walkout is finally happening?
I've been waiting on this like this.
It excites me but it's scary.
I think the general public sees it as the teachers are being greedy.
No we’re not being greedy.
We want to continue to be able to do what we love.
And if we don't get this we can't keep doing it.
I can't keep doing it.
I don’t want [intercom] sorry...
I am so broken right now by the way things are that if things don't change I will leave.
So I'm hopeful that they change so that I don't have to pursue a new career, but if they don't
change I will.
What has kept you doing this for almost 30 years?
Why are you still teaching and doing all of these side jobs when you could just do something else?
I don’t know anything else.
This is my life.
I love seeing that I really can make a difference in kids’ lives.
I taught high school for a long time.
I had a group of boys.
No other teacher could handle them in class.
They were Seniors, they were done.
They didn’t want to be there, but I worked with them and I kept them in school and I
got them graduated.
And when I see that all of them, who could have easily, easily gone the wrong way, one’s
a nurse, a couple of them are working oil field, but they're grown adults with families
and they're contributing to society.
Knowing that I played a role, it's like OK, that's what I'm supposed to be doing.
It's just what I'm supposed to be doing.
I don’t want to leave.
I wouldn't be happy.
I’ve had jobs where I made really good money.
I owned my own hair salon before I got a teaching degree.
I've been a financial adviser.
I've had money, but that didn't- that didn't make me happy.
But when you put me in a position where I can't even survive doing what I love, then
I have to do something and I have to make a change, because my children are important too.
I’m slobbering all over myself. I’m flustered now.
I don’t want to leave.
This is the singular defining moment for generations.
We’re all in this together.
We have to change.
It is the day of the walkout.
We’re about halfway to the Capitol.
We’re about to pass the Governor’s mansion.
The Governor’s mansion is up to our right!
Say hi to Mary!
Hi Mary!
What up Mary!
Give us money Mary!
The first week of the walkout was, by many accounts, a success.
Tens of thousands of teachers and supporters showed up, and the Capitol building was filled
to capacity every day.
This is the line to get in.
Oh holy holy look at all those people.
I’m a sub for 18 years.
I have high schoolers making more than me working at 7-Eleven after school.
But as the week went on, more and more teachers returned to school, as many districts rescinded
their promise to pay teachers during the strike.
One of these districts was Angela’s.
I am headed to school, and I feel like a complete and total traitor.
However, I can’t afford to lose a day’s pay.
So I am going in against everything in me.
We were told if we go march again, it will be a breach of our contract.
We cannot use leave because we wouldn’t be sick, obviously.
And this is not an emergency because it was planned.
So our district is the only one in central Oklahoma City who will be in session tomorrow.
Even with some teachers returning to class, the walkout persisted.
And Kily spent her days at the capitol.
Being on the highway and seeing the signs and hearing everybody hocking.
Feel like for the first time the public, like, cares and is behind us.
Unfortunately, not everyone was so supportive.
Teachers want more, but it’s kinda like having a teenage kid that wants a better car.
They come into this house and wanna act this way.
I’m not voting for another stinkin’ measure when they’re acting the way they’re acting.
I do not believe that I should have to pay for your kids or somebody else’s kids with
my taxes to go to school or give you a raise with my taxes.
Okay so it’s day 5 of the walkout.
We got an email saying that we needed to put in for leave.
So I may have lost like $250, $275 today.
Doesn't matter I'm still here at the protest.
I've got the phone plugged in here in the car...
At this point, the walkout is phasing out, and Kily is losing money every day she’s
not at school.
This is the thinnest crowd that I have seen so far.
What day are we on?
Day 7?
I’m supposed to be at work right now.
But I went and signed in and signed out and walked out.
I teach students and teachers and neither one of those in the building so what am I
supposed to do all day?
Oh wow.
This is sad.
I mean there’s still a crowd but not anything like there was.
I’m mad enough I had to get this on camera.
Look.
On day 10, the head of Oklahoma’s largest teacher union announced that the walkout was over.
Senate Republicans won’t budge an inch on any more revenue for public education.
She doesn’t speak for all of us.
Two more days.
We need two more days.
We are going back to school Monday, April 16.
I guess it really is over, because I can’t afford to go for any more days than one day.
Kily did go back for one more day.
But on Tuesday April 17th, she finally returned to school.
The vibe here is stressed.
I’ve had two people come to me and say, ‘I don’t know how to tell you this, but
I won’t be here next year.
I’ve accepted a job somewhere else.’
It’s just really sad.
Everybody’s sad.
I don’t know whether to stay and fight and try to be part of something bigger and better
or to try to leave and do better for my family.
Even though the walkout effectively ended, Kily has continued to protest at the capitol
with a group of other teachers.
I caught up with Angela to see how she was feeling how everything went down.
I was just so sad that this is what it came to.
And I felt almost disrespected by the comments that were made by our Governor and by some
of the legislators and stuff.
All year long, we supported you.
And now you’re gonna come here and act like this after you got a raise.
Go right ahead, be pissed at me if you want to.
This is the thing that really left me scratching my head about Oklahoma.
There seems to be overwhelming support across the political spectrum for funding public education.
Yet, voters are electing representatives who don’t stand for those values.
I asked a couple of former candidates for public office about the reason
behind this disconnect.
There are a lot of single-issue voters out there and I was up against this a lot when
I was out knocking doors.
So I would, I would introduce myself - ‘I'm running for State Senate in our district,
and I think what's happening in public education in our state is criminal.’
I was shocked at how often the conversation devolved to, are you pro-life or pro-choice?
Like, that was it.
Like people were making their decisions based on that.
If you're a teacher and you're pretty Evangelical, on Sunday mornings at church you're basically
being told you can't vote for a Democrat because they're going to, you know, make gay marriage
the standard, they're going to let transgender people use whatever bathroom they want.
Like these are the kind of scare tactics that they use and I don't say it lightly.
When I was campaigning this is the stuff that would come out of these folks' mouths.
You know, I'd knock on a door and be like, ‘I'm concerned about education in our state.
What are you concerned about?
Oh I'm concerned about the bathroom issue, and I'm like do our children have bathrooms?
Because they don't have teachers or books.’
Have you ever voted for someone who isn’t pro-education?
Yeah, I have.
I have.
And ones that I probably should have looked at myself instead of listening— Not doing
my own investigation has been my— Yeah I have.
I mean that's really my next step is to be more involved and be more aware of the legislative
process.
How did you feel having to give up after so many days of protesting?
I was hurt.
I was angry.
I cried.
I felt like we'd lost.
I feel like in November there's going to be an upheaval.
I feel like we're gonna clear house and they're not gonna see it coming.
I don’t think they realize how far and wide this goes, and that it’s not just Oklahoma.
Like I still see it.
Like I still see it worldwide.
I don’t think they realize that this really is a movement, and that we’re not done.