Possibility of adding five days to school year without raising teacher salaries has Capitol phones ringing off the hook

By Jennifer Mock

Published: July 26, 2007

Roy Bishop, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, said he and more than 200 of the group's members are in Tulsa this week at a summer leadership conference and are making the calls.

At the end of the last legislative session, House Speaker Lance Cargill and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, both Republicans, said they would not consider any future teacher pay increases without merit factoring into the decision. Cargill has said he supports higher teacher salaries, but only for Oklahoma's best teachers.

Earlier this month, state schools Superintendent Sandy Garrett, a Democrat, requested five days be added to the school year and an additional hour tacked onto the school day to help Oklahoma students better compete in a global market.

Bishop said he and his teacher members are opposed to both proposals unless they are tied to a salary increase for all teachers. The teachers making the calls were provided with a script from the organization but were also urged to use their own wording if they wanted. The calls are an effective way to tell lawmakers a significant number of teachers are opposed to the proposals, Bishop said.

"They have made their intentions clear,” he said. "We want to make sure we have our say.”

"This demonstrates that the teachers' union is opposed to good reforms regardless if they come from Democrats or Republicans,” he said. "It reflects the tendency of the teachers' union to protect the stagnate status quo instead of trying to move our children's' future forward.”

Sen. Mike Morgan, the co-president pro tempore and a Democrat, had not received any calls as of Wednesday afternoon.

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