Showdown in Oklahoma

By a frankly hostile squeeze play, the schoolteachers of the U.S. are battling the voters of the state of Oklahoma to get more state aid for education. A month ago, in a referendum, the electorate decisively defeated a 10 boost in the state sales tax (presently 20 per dollar) that would have raised Oklahoma's niggardly education outlays. Encouraged by what it believes to be a significant victory in its recent boycott of Utah, the 940,000-member National Education Association responded by undertaking to strip Oklahoma of teachers. Teachers are being helped to move to other jobs, and out-of-state teachers are warned away.

To make their case against Oklahoma, the teachers argue that their salaries, averaging $5,160, are more than $1,000 lower than the U.S. average and that per-pupil expenditures, at $366, are $117 lower than the national average. Worse, Oklahoma is falling behind more each year. Some buildings are so drafty, the teachers said, that last winter students and teachers wore overcoats in class.

Oklahoma officials were predictably angry at the blacklisting. Governor Henry Bellmon, who had campaigned on a platform of no new taxes, demanded a halt to the "blackjack tactics"--but he promised that wages would be upped despite the "disgusting, distasteful and disgraceful" action. The legislature is debating a proposal to raise $25 million in new money, but N.E.A. thought that sum insufficient. Already, systems in the 36 states that pay more than Oklahoma have lured 500 teachers away; N.E.A. officials estimated that 10% of the state's 24,200 teachers might be lost by September.

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