Thousands of educators head to rally at Oklahoma Capitol

Thousands of teachers, parents, administrators and other supporters of primary education rallied at the Oklahoma State Capitol Monday, lobbying for lawmakers to spend more money on education.

In particular, many want to see HB2642 pass.

It would earmark more than $3 billion for education over the next decade, in addition to the normal school funding already mandated by law.

The money would go into the Securing Educational Excellence Fund through increases operational funding for the schools provided through the state's funding formula.

It would basically divert money that would normally go into the state's General Revenue Fund, the same way the Department of Transportation gets money for its ROAD fund.

By making the appropriation automatic, it removes politics and legislative debate from the education funding process.

Most districts in the area elected to cancel classes for the day so teachers and others could attend the rally.