OKLAHOMA CITY — Nearly 200 female attorneys descended Monday on the state Capitol in an attempt to resolve a statewide teacher walkout that appeared to surge in strength in its sixth day.
Dressed in all black and led by a high school drumline, the lawyers made their way about 10 a.m. from the Oklahoma Bar Association’s office through thousands of cheering teachers who lined their path along Lincoln Boulevard to the Capitol.
“It was so overwhelming,” said Stacy Acord, a Tulsa attorney. “Knowing that we’re here to support the teachers and they were there lining the sidewalks to support us — and that’s what teachers do for our kids every day. They’re their cheerleaders.”
The state Senate last week approved measures that could bring in new revenue from internet sales and “ball and dice” casino gaming, but the leader of the state’s teachers union said its members aren’t satisfied. The Oklahoma Education Association has called on Gov. Mary Fallin to veto a repeal of a hotel/motel tax and for lawmakers to take up legislation to remove an exemption on capital gains taxes, two steps that could bring more money to education.
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The OEA initially listed three teacher demands that would end the walkout: fill the $50 million gap created in hotel/motel tax the Legislature repealed last week, pass a bill that would bring in revenue by allowing “ball and dice” gambling, and find additional revenue sources to increase funding for schools.
House leaders have said they would not act on capital gains taxes but instead focus on renewable energy tax credits.
Efforts to claw back incentives from the wind industry were renewed Monday in the House, where the Appropriations and Budget Committee stripped out a bill and substituted language that would end refundability of existing renewable energy tax credits next Jan. 1. The bill would have no impact on the current fiscal year, or the one that begins July 1.
Under current law, credits exceeding holders’ tax liability to the state could be redeemed for 85 percent of face value.
Both chambers of the Legislature held floor sessions Monday afternoon but did not take up action on the teachers’ demands.
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Becki Murphy, who is an adoption attorney at Tulsa-based Murphy-Francy PLLC, organized the effort to bring the lawyers to Capitol, initially setting the goal of recruiting 100 other female attorneys to come with her. The group ballooned as a letter to lawmakers she posted on Facebook went viral.
“I just had it,” she told the Tulsa World late last week. “I asked myself, ‘Can we get a bunch of women out there and see if we can fill this gap?’ ”
Some attorneys who came to the Capitol were told to leave their messages on lawmakers’ office sign-in sheets, but Kathleen Pence and Suzanne Phillips, both from Tulsa, were able to get in to see Rep. Glen Mulready, R-Tulsa. They took about a dozen Jenks teachers, plus a couple from Bixby with them.
“One thing we wanted to communicate is if we change sentencing laws, there would be fewer people in prison and that would free up more money for education,” said Pence. “He did seem very interested in funding education.”
Phillips agreed, “He did seem interested in having meaningful conversation, instead of just placating.”
Afterward, they were joined by two other Tulsa attorneys, Erica Parks and Tiffany Graves, in waiting for a later appointment with a lawmaker. Teachers passing them in the hall on the Capitol’s second floor thanked them for coming and some even asked for cellphone photos.
“Register, Research, Vote” read one side of the sign Graves brought with her to the Capitol, while the other read, “This attorney stands with teachers.”
“Is this a one-day thing for you all?” asked Jane Schreurs, a third-grade teacher at Hugo Public Schools.
Pence responded that the organizers were going to meet Monday evening to review what happened and then “make a plan going forward.”
Acord and Pence were among a group of attorneys that scored a face-to-face sit down with one of the state’s newest lawmakers, Sen. Allison Ikley-Freeman, D-Tulsa. They thanked her for her votes to increase funding for public education and asked what progress might be made this week.
“I think you should sit in front of someone who has not been pro-education and see where their resolve is to measure that,” Ikely-Freeman said.
Acord told the senator that she worries whether lawmakers understand that they’re in a game of chicken with teachers, “because the teachers aren’t going to back down.”
“If we’re sitting here in a month and our kids are still out of school, is anybody here thinking about that?” Acord said.
Ikely-Freeman responded, “Part of me that’s a rabble-rouser thinks if we are sitting here in a month, maybe the whole state will feel the intense economic impact of our state underfunding education for 10 years — it would be undeniable.”
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