Re-do?

Oklahoma's school teachers, frustrated by inaction on state funding for schools, are considering a repeat of a 1990 walkout that succeeded in prodding action from the state legislature at the time.

Teachers stayed away from class, with many visiting the state capitol to explain themselves, for four days that year and eventually moved the state legislature to pass what was then House Bill 1017. Governor Henry Bellmon, who had supported the package of funding increases and reform measures, signed it into law as the Education Reform Act of 1990. The young Friar, then reporting for a newspaper, covered that rally. He did so in fear that one of his own former teachers might see him, drag him bodily into the capitol building and show legislators exactly why teachers should be paid more than they were, but fortunately that did not happen.

Although I can agree with those who see the current situation as a crisis-level event on a par with that year, there may be too many differences between 1990 and 2018 to allow a walkout to be as effective today.

The problem most recently manifested itself with the failure to pass the measure called "Step Up Oklahoma," which would have increased some state taxes to fund teacher pay increases as well as some other areas of the state education system. Since State Question 640 amended the state constitution in 1992, tax increases require either a 75% majority of both state legislative houses or simple majority passage as a general ballot measure. The state House could not reach that threshold.

The first wrinkle for a walkout today deals with the makeup of the state legislature. In 1990 it was majority Democratic, but today it is majority Republican. The state teacher's union, the Oklahoma Education Association, most often supports Democratic candidates and officeholders. Democratic legislators were quite a bit more apprehensive about a group of pissed-off teachers and their union  than Republicans, many of whom won office in spite of OEA opposition. A drive to elect more educators and educational supporters in the 2016 election cycle produced few victories, suggesting to many Republican legislators that their offices don't depend on the goodwill of traditional educational power bases.

Another wrinkle is the aforementioned 75% threshold for tax increase legislation. Legislative leaders in 1990 had to get 50% of their caucuses to accept HB 1017. They could have 49% cranks who would never ever ever vote for any kind of tax increase ever ever and still get a bill passed. The higher percentage also means that the remaining opposition is likely to be tougher to convince. The walkout was designed to bring pressure on the legislators to pass the bill, but the pressure on today's lawmakers is already pretty darn high. The remaining holdout representatives -- a mix of Republicans and Democrats -- are solidly committed to their various reasons for opposing the tax increases any education funding measure would require. Their motives may be sincere or venial, but if they've held out this long they're a lot more likely to keep it up.

As OEA director David DuVall notes in the Tulsa World story, the 1990 walkout had the advantage of a very easily understood goal: Passage of HB 1017. Teachers could say, "We're out of here until you pass this bill." A 2018 walkout would need a similar lodestone. Students at Bartlesville High School walked out of class Friday morning to signal support for their teachers, and the response of one local legislator -- who voted against the Step Up package -- was to suggest folks support three separate house bills that he said would allow for a teacher pay increase. Whether that's true or not, it makes for a pretty nebulous rallying cry.

The largest elephant in the room in terms of hurdles the 1990 group didn't have to deal with is leadership ability among the politicians involved. Henry Bellmon may not have been Cincinnatus, but he was a considerably better leader than the current governor, Mary Fallin. Bellmon was a Republican dealing with a majority Democratic legislature (and a Democratic State Superintendent of Schools) and got a reform and funding package passed. Fallin is a Republican dealing with a majority Republican legislature and Republican superintendent and has watched more than one measure be defeated. Her entire political career has consisted of being in the right place at the right time and her deficiencies in leadership ability have been clearly exposed in this running battle.

Legislatively, the state Senate has stepped up; during the recent special session Senate President Pro Tem Mike Schulz has been able to get the 75% margins the tax increase bills required. 1990's President Pro Tem, Robert Cullison, was similarly effective. The House, on the other hand, is a different matter. Rep. Steve Lewis had taken the Speaker position from Jim Barker in 1989 and was a co-author of the 1017 measure. Current Speaker Charles McCall has been lukewarm at best to most of the measures brought forward, even when he votes for them.

As mentioned once before, the contemporary Friar isn't at all sure he knows how to fix the many broken aspects of the state educational system. Perhaps a properly timed teacher walkout would prompt funding and reform measures that could work. But if it's just an expression of frustration with the process and the people running it, there's not much point -- that's way too common of a feeling for people to take notice of how anyone decides to show it.