Tens of thousands of Oklahoma teachers and educators poured onto the lawns and streets surrounding the state capitol on Monday as part of a massive walkout over state school funding. Under gray morning skies, a group of music teachers hefted brass instruments and blasted into the opening chords of a classic rock song synonymous with fist-pumping, 1980s MTV and big hair.
"We're not gonna take it!" the crowd of teachers belted in unison, according to a video capturing their rendition of Twisted Sister's 1984 hit. "No, we ain't gonna take it! We're not gonna take it, anymore!"Eight hundred miles east, the marble atrium of the Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort was clogged with hundreds of teachers protesting drastic cuts to their pension plan. Again, the educators packed into the government building threaded together their outraged voices to the metal anthem's melody.
"We're not gonna take it!" the Kentucky teachers shouted. "We're not gonna take it, anymore!"
Last month, decades of budget cuts and salary paralysis led teachers in West Virginia to mount a campaign against the state government, culminating in a nine-day strike that forced the closure of the state's schools but eventually won teachers a five percent pay increase.Washington Post
