Oklahoma CSE to Stage “Honk for a Better Way!” Protest

On February 12, more than 10,000 members of Oklahoma Teacher¡¦s Unions will take a paid vacation day to lobby members of the Oklahoma legislature for a one-cent sales tax increase. Member organizations of the “Save Our Schools” coalition (which includes the O.E.A.) claim that the only way to help what they call the “school funding crisis” is with a tax increase.

CSE says that claim is wrong.

A sales tax increase merely throws more money into a failing public school monopoly.

Rather than more money for the school system bureaucracy, CSE believes the answer is fundamental reform of the educational system. Parents need the tools to become active participants in their child¡¦s education, and to hold schools accountable. Oklahoma needs school choice.

Oklahoma CSE’s “Honk for a Better Way!” Protest
10:30 am

Rally and Press Conference at the Jim Thorpe Building (first office building north of the Capitol building on the east side)
11:10 am

“Honk for a Better Way” Caravan on Lincoln Boulevard around the Capitol Complex

This is the message that the Oklahoma chapter of CSE, under the leadership of Tim Gillespie, will be conveying to legislators at the “Honk for a Better Way!” Protest on February 12.

Originally, Gillespie and CSE were denied a permit to assemble by the Department of Central Services at the State Capitol for “safety reasons.” But thanks to Gillespie’s persistence and an outpouring of grassroots pressure, the permit was granted and the protest will go on.

According to Gillespie, “That explanation simply wasn¡¦t good enough. In the past they’ve claimed to have as many as 30,000 teachers at the state Capitol. This year they say their only expecting 10,000 and yet they were claiming that a few more people would pose a safety risk? We just want our voices to be heard and that is why we are staging the “Honk for a Better Way Protest.”

Oklahoma CSE Tim Gillespie, VCL

(918) 629-9621 email: OK@swbell.net