OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma teachers threatened Thursday to walk out of classrooms and force school closures starting April 2 unless the state increases their base pay by $10,000 over a three-year period.

 “Schools will stay closed until we get what we’re asking for,” said Alicia Priest, president of the Oklahoma Education Association, the union which represents thousands of the state’s public school teachers.

The ultimatum was issued two days after West Virginia teachers ended a successful nine-day strike when legislators passed and Gov. Jim Justice signed into law a bill increasing their pay and that of other state employees by five percent across the board.

West Virginia and Oklahoma teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation. The average Oklahoma teacher made $44,921 last school year, according to the state Department of Education. The average for teachers in surrounding and nearby states was $48,450, the agency reported.

The Oklahoma teachers union also demanded pay raises for school support staff, other state employees and more spending on education and mental health care. Similar demands were part of the West Virginia legislation.

In aggregate, the Oklahoma package would cost $1.5 billion over three years. 

State Sen. Mike Schulz, Senate president pro tem, said he supports raising teacher pay but the request for $10,000 is “very unrealistic.” He also said he doubts all Oklahoma teachers support a walkout and school closures.

Priest said after years of doing more with less it was time to take a stand. She said Oklahoma is educating its young people with out-of-date curriculum and no textbooks and cramming classrooms so full of students that teachers can’t provide individual attention.

Thousands of teachers are leaving the state or the profession in search of better-paying opportunities, said Priest.  “Oklahoma educators have reached a breaking point. We cannot — no, we will not — allow our students to go without any longer,” she said. 

State law requires the legislature to pass a budget funding education by April 1. If lawmakers fail to comply with the union’s demands by then, teachers will walk off the job the next day, she said.

“There’s some anger — real, true anger,” said state Rep. Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, prior to the union’s announcement. “And it’s not just teachers. It’s parents and it’s superintendents and administrators as well.”

Rosecrants, who was an Oklahoma City public school teacher prior to his election to the legislature, said he made only $11,000 working as a teacher’s assistant his first year. After six years as classroom teacher, he said he made about $35,400 — and that was in one of the better paying school districts.

“There was times where I had to choose, ‘Do I put gas in the tank, or do I get food for my kids?’” he said, adding that he drives a 2006 PT Cruiser that is falling apart.

 “Something massive needs to happen,” Rosecrants said. “We (the legislature) just need to wake up. We need a wake-up call here at the capitol.” 

Janelle Stecklein is the CNHI state reporter for Oklahoma. Contact her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.