Ivy Riggs, OEA’s associate executive director for the Center of Legislative and Political Organizing, recently sat down with us to talk about the upcoming legislative session, which begins February 7.

Education Focus – Last year, we experienced one of the worst legislative sessions for public education. Do you agree?
Ivy Riggs – “At the end of last session, there were a lot of changes in education policy that we felt were reactive to the pandemic. There was a high level of frustration and I think we saw a lot of legislation that reflected those feelings. Hopefully, a pandemic is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so it’s hard to accept that we need statewide legislation to fix a problem we have no control over. They weren’t happy with how some schools handled decisions to meet virtually or in-person. At the very end of the session, we saw a bill that prohibited vaccine and mask mandates. All through the session, that bill had other language, but it was substituted at the last minute.
“The people driving the train are not educators or live in the education world, so it’s frustrating when they don’t ask an educator. There are lots of educators in the legislature, but that’s not who’s pushing this agenda.”

EF – Since the end of May, you’ve had a lot of conversations with legislators. Is the attitude going to be different this year?
IR – “I hope so. When I talk to our education allies – moderates on both sides of the aisle – they are fed up with how things were done last session. There were promises made that some in leadership reneged on. There was some pressure from the governor and outside groups. On the other hand, I’m worried because what we’re seeing is a lot of screaming and yelling at school board meetings and parents that have never been involved before now want to take over school boards. Legislators are hearing from those parents. I don’t think for a second that they are the majority; I think they are a really loud minority.”

EF – 2022 is an election year. What can we expect with that in mind?
IR – “In an election year, typically, we’ll see more gun bills and pro-life bills – issues they can put on flyers to say, ‘See, I’m protecting you.’ I think we’ll see more mandates and prohibitions on LGBTQ students. I think we’re going to see more attempts at mandating what we can teach with curriculum limitations. I think we have a few folks out there who are pushing the envelope of what they are discussing in the classroom, but overall, none of these concerns are legitimate. But where it is happening, legislators are hearing about it. It’s problematic because those legislators believe it’s happening on a wider scale.”

EF – In a lot of election years, there is legislation to give teachers and support professionals a raise. Can we expect that this year?
IR – “I can’t say for sure at this point, but I can tell you we’ve heard a little talk about a bill to raise pay for ESPs. I haven’t heard any talk about a teacher pay raise. I do anticipate a growing budget because tax collections are up and oil prices are on the rise. The things that feed our economy are healthy and doing better. Coming out of a pandemic, that’s amazing to me. I think they are going to try to target specific areas, like teacher recruitment and retention, maybe some scholarships. There is talk of bringing the NBCT stipends back, maybe some money for mentorships – ways to keep folks in the profession and recruit people to the profession.”

EF – What legislation are we pushing this year?
IR – “We are trying to work on an employee assistance program. Currently, state employees have access to the Department of Mental Health for services. I know that every school employee has health insurance, but they don’t always know where to go. So, this service would connect school employees with those services.
“We were lucky enough to join Rep. Ronny Johns (R, Ada) and Rep. John Talley (R, Stillwater) on an interim study this past fall on some support employee issues. For instance, now that schools have a handle on how to conduct virtual school, we may not see snow days anymore. We’ll see virtual days instead. But when a district has a virtual day, ESPs don’t have an option to work. So, we’re looking at ways we can protect our ESP salaries.”

EF – Because of the pandemic, our members had a hard time connecting with legislators last session. How are we addressing that for 2022?
IR – “We think that one reason last session was so anti-public education was the breakdown of the relationships we had built over the last few years. Pre-pandemic, we had several locals who brought people to lobby throughout the session, almost every week. But over the last year, the normal legislative breakfasts or coffee-shop chats became virtual and I think you just lose a little bit of that personal touch. So, the only contact legislators were receiving was coming from angry parents who were frustrated with what was happening in schools. They weren’t hearing the good stories they normally do.
“That’s why we’ve applied for and won an NEA grant to help turn that around. Every week in March and April, we’re going to invite members to join us Monday evening for a dinner and legislative discussion. Then, we’ll put them up in a hotel for the evening. The next morning, we’ll have a breakfast and a formal briefing before going to the Capitol to lobby. We’ll provide some gas money and even pay for a sub.
“The more we can get face-to-face with our legislators, hopefully, the more we gain back some of that ground we lost to the pandemic.”