Teachers make their point at Capitol

Photo of the teacher's rally on the steps of the Oklahoma State Capitol building from Sky 6. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Little Shelby Baughn, a Broken Arrow preschooler, held

Wednesday, February 16th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Photo of the teacher's rally on the steps of the Oklahoma State Capitol building from Sky 6.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Little Shelby Baughn, a Broken Arrow preschooler, held up a homemade sign that said, "Oklahoma's Report Card: Prison Funding A+, Education Funding F." She and her family stood at the base of a column at the state capitol, joining teachers, parents and children from across the state in urging lawmakers to spend more money on education.

Police estimated as many as 25,000 people attended the "Put Education First" rally. Those on hand chanted loudly in unison to punctuate parts of speeches given by education leaders outside the Capitol building.

Inside, teachers and parents jammed up about 10 deep around a calm Gov. Frank Keating in the conference room by his office, which sported a "Teachers Welcome Center" sign on the large, double doors. Some munched on apples provided by the governor's office.

Keating fielded questions from teachers who patiently held up their hands to get his attention. But some came up with more creative ideas. Duncan science teacher Kim Roberts passed out cattle backbones adorned with a tag that said, "Increase Common Education Funding-- Have a Backbone." She didn't stop there, adding chess pawns tagged with, "Children Should Not Be Political Pawns."

Teachers began arriving at the Capitol as early as 7 a.m., with Shawnee teachers staking their claim to a small piece of turf for a table, dozens of signs and ice chests full of bottled water. Many of the signs referred to gaffes made by the governor that angered teachers and parents. "Hartshorne teachers -- no slugs here," said one sign. And a button worn by Moore parent Karen Webb read, "I Take All Homicide Jokes Seriously. Suspend Frank Keating for a Year." It referred toa joking comment by the governor that "homicide" was the best way to deal with the teacher's union. "I Care -- I Stayed," referred to higher teachers' salary levels in surrounding states that have caused more than 1,000 teachers to go out of state for jobs since July.

Delegations from as far as Guymon in the Panhandle and Miami in the far northeastern part of the state attended the rally.

Retired teacher Bettye Jane Johnston left Bartlesville at about 6:15 a.m. to work to protect teachers' retirement funds. She said there was talk of borrowing money from the funds. "They don't need to be doing that," she said.

Teachers said they wanted to show their unity by showing up in large numbers. "When they look out their window and see this large group, we thought it might impact a lot of the people up here making decisions," said Amanda Collie, a special education teacher from Tulsa.

Many of the teachers said they tried to explain their need to travel to the Capitol to their students. "We've tried to let the kids know that we're doing this to try to get them a better education," said Angi Bauer, a Tulsa kindergarten teacher.

After the rally ended, the crowd emptied from the Capitol bac kto the buses that brought them at about the same time as the House voted 98-1 on the teachers' pay raise.