Teachers in Utah Walk Out to Protest Lack of School Funding
Utah’s teachers staged a one-day walkout Tuesday to protest crowded classrooms, low per-student spending and tattered textbooks.
The teachers union said 80% of the state’s 22,000 teachers took part in the strike, which forced the closing of hundreds of schools.
“We’re supposed to solve the world’s problems, but they’re giving us less and less to do it,” said teacher Nancy Safsten. “We are putting our hearts and souls into this and we need some help.”
Teachers rallied at several locations statewide before fanning out into neighborhoods, distributing leaflets and huddling on street corners for “honk-and-waves.”
Most said the public was supportive, although a passenger in one car held up a sign reading “Go back to school. Stop whining.”
Leaders of the 19,000-member teachers union, the Utah Education Assn., called for the walkout last week to protest the lack of a long-term state education funding plan.
Utah spends $4,087 per student, compared with a national average of $6,407. To reach the national average, the state would have to increase taxes, state officials said.
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