Teachers Voice Support For ‘Step Up’ Plan At State Capitol

Hundreds of teachers were at the Capitol Monday in a last-ditch effort to convince lawmakers to vote yes on the “Step Up Oklahoma” plan. A main part of that plan: A $5,000 pay raise for teachers.

Shawna Mott-Wright was one of the teachers at Capitol hoping to educate lawmakers on why they need to vote “yes” on the Step Up revenue plan.

“We need something now and I feel like if this doesn’t happen, nothing will happen,”

Mott-Wright told one Representative as she went door to door.

Read Related Story: SoonerPoll – Majority Of Oklahomans Support ‘Step Up’ Plan

The message: teachers desperately need a raise and although this plan may not be perfect, it's their best hope.

“But I’m not going to turn down a tourniquet from bleeding out just because I can’t have a hospital stay,” said Mott-Wright.

At a rally on the second-floor rotunda, teachers and advocates also made their feelings heard loud and clear.

Watch: Teachers Rally At Capitol In Support Of Step Up OK

“I’m here today to stand up and step up for the teachers of Oklahoma,” said Former OU Football Head Coach Barry Switzer.

The Step Up Plan is supported by the state's teacher and education advocacy groups and is touted as a bi-partisan deal to help teachers and fund education and other core services.

“We need to put the greater good of our state above personal partisan or special interest. We should all be for this. We must sieze this moment as if our future depends on it because it does,” said OSU President Burns Hargis.