Teachers, parents gather at Oklahoma State Capitol for Public Schools Week

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KSWO) - Oklahoma teachers and parents were at the State Capitol on Monday meeting with state lawmakers and voicing their concerns with education in the state.

Senate Bill 1647, the Oklahoma Empowerment Act, was authored by Senator Greg Treat.

The Act would take money that would go to public schools and put it in a private account for parents. Parents could then choose to spend that money on maybe their child’s tuition to a private school, or equipment to be used to homeschool their kids.

While Senator Treat said it would create competition between public and private schools.

Teachers at the event said education should not be ran like a business, and that’s what Senate Bill 1647 seems to encourage.

Jami Cole is a teacher at Horace Mann Elementary School in Duncan and said it’s frustrating legislators are authoring bills that take away from public schools.

“The ones on our side are amazing, we felt since the walkout, there’s been a retaliation against educators,” Cole said. “That’s what a lot of these bills are. You bring in issues that aren’t even happening and it’s like ‘where is this coming from?’”

There are many other activities happening through Friday to celebrate Public Schools Week below.

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