A wave of pro-education energy, spurred by the April walkouts, led to election victories in Oklahoma, Arizona and Wisconsin

A new wave of teachers’ strikes could soon hit US schools, with educators in Chicago and Los Angeles considering walkouts. And after the midterm elections, they will have stronger allies.

Across the country, in Arizona, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, teachers made huge gains in the midterm elections – a movement that grew out of the #RedforEd campaign that saw teachers protesting across the country to reverse years of conservative cuts to public education.

Last April, thousands of teachers across the state of Oklahoma went on strike; making increased funding for education and a seat at the table in education a priority. Now, educators have been swept in record numbers into office in Oklahoma. Earlier this month, 16 educators were elected to the Oklahoma state house; bringing the total number of educators in the state legislature to 25.

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The wave of pro-education energy helped Kendra Horn become the first Democrat to be elected from Oklahoma’s fifth congressional district in 44 years and the first female Democratic representative to the House from Oklahoma.

Horn, 42, made education funding a central focus of her campaign and had many teachers going door-to-door on her behalf.

“We saw a greater involvement of teachers than ever before during this political process over the last six months when we moved from the walkout to the elections and teachers found their collective voice and they aren’t going anywhere,” said the Oklahoma Education Association vice-president, Katherine Bishop.

Carri Hicks, a fourth-grade teacher from Deer Valley in the suburbs of Oklahoma City, was one of those striking teachers elected to the state senate on 6 November; flipping a seat previously held by a Republican to the Democratic column.

Hicks said that she saw how the issue of education funding was able to win so many voters for the Democrats.

She said many voters had previously had trouble understanding the link between education cuts and the tax cuts the state gave to corporations and the oil and gas industry. That changed after the teachers’ strike.

“I feel like the walkout really brought those inequities to light and people were much more willing to have that conversation because they understood the magnitude,” said Hicks. “You know, finally, having a united front and coming together shed light on some dark places in our public education system and was powerful.”

In Arizona, where more than 70,000 teachers and their supporters marched on the state capitol in April, teachers made big gains at the ballot box; electing a former college educator, Kyrsten Sinema, as senator, defeating a ballot measure that would have expanded education vouchers in the state and making gains in the state legislature.

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Teachers also helped elect 31-year-old school speech therapist Kathy Hoffman as Arizona state school superintendent, the first time in 25 years that a Democrat has held the office in Arizona.

Two years ago, after watching the Betsy DeVos confirmation as secretary of education, Hoffman, a member of the American Federation of Teachers, decided to run for Arizona schools superintendent. Hoffman used her network of teacher activists to defeat better-funded opponents, both Democratic and Republican.

“This victory is not just about me or my campaign. It’s about the thousands of teachers and educators who lead our public schools every day,” tweeted Hoffman.

The Arizona Federation of Teachers president, Ralph Quintana, said that education issues helped to organize unlikely coalitions to support Hoffman and other educators running for office.

“We were able to go into Mormon communities and organize folks because public schools are very important to many Mormon communities throughout Arizona,” said Quintana. “You gotta tread lightly among our coalition of teachers because there was a great portion of them that are also conservative in other areas, but also very pro-public education.”

Across the country, education issues helped educators achieve political results. In Wisconsin, Tony Evers, the Wisconsin school superintendent, was able to finally defeat Governor Scott Walker, who rose to national fame stripping public employees – notably teachers – of their collective bargaining rights.

“What happened last spring [with the strikes] set the stage for a fightback on the importance of an investment in public education,” said the American Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten. “You didn’t see DeVos on the trail as part of the Trump administration. I haven’t heard her utter a word publicly in months and that says something.”

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Trump, who previously championed vouchers and charter schools during his 2016 campaign, also declined to campaign on education.

“Their silence on these issues is very consequential because they know that in these red states that people who opposed public education ran into a buzzsaw and that’s really, really good news,” said Weingarten.

However, despite the victories at the ballot box for teachers across the country, Weingarten isn’t delusional about the tasks ahead for teachers. Despite winning statewide offices in Arizona and Wisconsin, Republicans were able to maintain their holds on state legislatures.

In Arizona and Oklahoma, teachers’ unions are expected to engage in major fights to ensure funding for raises that were promised them during last teachers’ strike. And in states such as Kentucky, where Democrats picked up only two seats in the state house, The Republican governor, Matt Bevin, has pledged to go to war with the state’s teachers’ unions.

“Breaking the backs of the teachers’ union in this state … is going to be one of the best things that ever happened for Kentucky,” Bevin said after the election.

Still, despite the challenge that many teachers’ unions are likely to face from Republican-controlled state legislatures, Weingarten is optimistic that politically the tide has turned back in favor of public education.

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“It was a moment in movement building. It was a big moment. It was a big step forward, but we have to do the work and that work is going to be as hard to do as this election,” she said.



