OKLAHOMA CITY - As the teacher walkout enters day five, the end of the week sets up a very important time for both sides of the issue as the Senate will begin to inspect HB 2019, a tax on third party vendors doing business with Amazon. As reported yesterday, the measure could raise up to $20,000,000 to fill a hole in the funding mechanism to monetize education budgets.
While teachers continue to rally at the state capitol, the OSBI says they are now getting word from some legislators that threats were made against them.
“In the past 24 hours, state lawmakers have contacted OSBI about potential threats made to them. Special agents have opened three cases so far. Agents believe they will open a fourth case soon.” the agency said on Thursday. “The OSBI assigns a special agent to the Capitol during the legislative session to investigate threats against public officials. The Bureau has original jurisdiction to investigate this crime.”
School Status
As the walkout has gone a full school week, some districts aren’t showing signs of getting teachers back into the classroom anytime soon. The Spiro School District this week has already said that they will cancel classes for Monday because of their teachers’ perceived inaction by the Oklahoma legislature.
Other schools, such as the Sallisaw School District are taking a “wait and see” approach as they move toward the weekend.
“Determinations for Monday will be made by Saturday at 6:00 PM.” Superintendent Scott Farmer said. “We continue to evaluate the situation on a daily basis. When we are able to staff the buildings at a level that will provide appropriate supervision for our students, we will resume daily operations.”
InsideFortSmith.Com will maintain a list of updated school closings as announcements are made this weekend.
