SOME weeks ago Oklahoma’s teacher of the year for 2016, Shawn Sheehan, dined in Washington, DC, with counterparts from California and Washington state. The mood was jolly until the high-flyers, all finalists for national teacher of the year, compared salaries. When Mr Sheehan—a young teacher of mathematics and special education—revealed his pay, his table-mates “sort of went silent”. For in state rankings of teachers’ pay Oklahoma comes 48th. Washington’s teacher of the year has since been urging Mr Sheehan to move to the West Coast. “He’s been sending me house listings,” he says, ruefully.
Oklahomans dislike such stories. They are sternly conservative: God-fearing, tornado-lashed prairie folk, so proud of their mineral wealth that an oil well stands next to the State Capitol, where feebler types might plant flowers. They scorn big government—the state is in the bottom third for tax revenue per person. But Oklahomans care about their public schools, which educate the vast majority of their kids, and which (notably via sport) are social anchors for many towns. So they wince when good teachers are lured elsewhere. Even now, as slumping...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1WWBvDm
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