Of all the states to undergo a teachers strike this year, Oklahoma gave the teachers the least amount of concessions and the most disrespect.

Not surprisingly, the teachers didn't forgive or forget.



Just 11 days after Oklahoma educators stormed the state’s Capitol building in early April to demand higher wages and more funding, more than 100 teachers declared their intentions to run for legislative office.

“There was a lot of frustration with how [the walkout] ended,” said Alberto Morejon, an 8th-grade teacher in Stillwater Oklahoma and the web administrator for the now-famous group that helped organize the march on the Capitol. “A lot of teachers just came together and agreed that since the walkout didn't turn out the way we wanted, the next step is that we’re going to remember when it comes time to vote.”

The real test will be in the November general election, but a lot of pissed off teachers were also Republicans, and they got a measure of revenge yesterday.



“Our voices were heard tonight,” said Sherrie Conley, an assistant principal at an Oklahoma City elementary school who ended up in a Republican runoff with incumbent Rep. Bobby Cleveland. Of the 10 “no” voters in the House who were running for re-election, two were defeated outright on Tuesday — Reps. Chuck Strohm of Jenks and Scott McEachin of Tulsa. Seven others ended up in an Aug. 28 primary runoff against fellow Republicans. Four other Republican incumbents also were defeated on Tuesday, including one who lost to a seventh-grade English teacher from Elgin. In another contest, a Republican state representative who posted a Facebook video in April chastising teachers for walking out led by just three votes over a GOP challenger who suspended his campaign a month ago so he could take a new job as a sheriff’s deputy.

That should give the Oklahoma teachers some satisfaction, with more chances at revenge later this year.

One other development happened last week.



The Oklahoma Supreme Court says an initiative petition that would overturn a package of tax hikes for funding teacher pay raises and public schools is invalid. Oklahoma's highest court handed down the ruling Friday and ordered that the initiative petition not appear on an election ballot. An anti-tax group led by former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn had launched a referendum petition seeking a vote to repeal tax hikes on cigarettes, fuel and energy production approved by the Legislature earlier this year. Money from the taxes would fund an average $6,100 teacher pay increase. But the court says the wording of the petition is misleading and those who sign it don't know what they would vote on.

They wanted to take back what little the teachers won, and were prepared to lie to do it. Not this time!