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Oklahoma teachers share heartbreaking photos of broken chairs, ripped textbooks while protests conti
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Oklahoma teachers are sharing photos of their crumbling text books and broken chairs in the midst of their rally for better funding. - photo by Herb Scribner
Oklahoma teachers are sharing photos of their torn-up textbooks and broken chairs in the midst of their rally for better funding.

Heres one example, first tweeted by Vox writer Alexia Campbell.

Another image from a teacher shows tattered books.

And then theres this video of a sixth-grade teacher showing "The Today Show" her worn textbooks. She said shes only received $100 raises every year.

Art teacher Laurissa Kovacs told USA Today that shes protesting for more reasons than a pay raise.

"This is about doing what is right for these Oklahoma kids," she said.

Kovacs later received more than $44,000 in donations as of Wednesday evening after photos of her classroom, which doesnt even have enough seats for her students, went viral, according to CNN.

Public schools in both Kentucky and Oklahoma closed this week as a result of thousands of teachers walking out in protest for better wages and funds, according to NBC News. These teachers demand that lawmakers add more education funding to the Legislature.

Jason Simeroth, the superintendent of schools in Yukon, Oklahoma, told NBC that his school would need more than $1 million to fund improvements to textbooks.

"I think one of the things when people see this, they say, 'The teachers got a raise.' They did. It's the first one in long time, but theyre not just here for that," Simeroth said. "Theyre here for resources, here for desks. We havent had an operational increase since Ive been doing this, and Ive been doing this 27, 28 years."

On Wednesday, about 36,000 teachers protested in Oklahoma. Music teachers used their instruments to play Were Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister as a form of protest, CBS News reported.

Back in February, nearly 20,000 teachers from West Virginia went on strike, leading to 55 counties shutting down public schools across the state for several days, the Deseret News reported. Teachers protested with demands for better pay and funding.

Teachers cheered victory when West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill that gave these teachers a 5 percent bump in pay, according to the Associated Press.
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