Students, parents of one Oklahoma City school marching to Capitol to protest budget cuts (KFOR)

May 18, 2016

By Dallas Franklin

OKLAHOMA CITY – Students and parents of one Oklahoma City school are marching to the Capitol Wednesday to protest budget cuts. 

Students and parents of Classen SAS are planning on marching from their school at N.W. 18th and Ellison at 7:30 a.m. to the State Capitol in support of the social movement, “Let’s Fix This.”

According to a press release from the group, the march came about after student Thomas Massenat discussed the budget cuts with his family. 

“It began as something small,” Massenat stated, “I was having a conversation with my family about the budget cuts’ infuriating nature. My sister Chloe and I decided that we should take action. We knew that the group ‘Let’s Fix This’ was meeting at the Capitol on Wednesday, and that other schools in the district were staging their own protests earlier in the week.”

“Let’s Fix This” is a non-partisan political movement that encourages citizens to be active and vocal with their legislators and helps educate the public on how to speak to their representatives.

“The purpose of our protest is to demonstrate to Oklahoma’s legislators the weight of their actions. Because of their refusal to pass legislation that will overcome the projected revenue shortfall of $1.3 billion, Oklahoma’s future generation is at risk. This shortfall has forced the OKCPS district to slash $30 million from its budget. What that looks like at my school of Classen SAS is teachers being fired, AP and IB testing funds disappearing, and cuts to the administrative staff. We fully support measures to counteract this deficit including rolling back tax cuts, closing tax loopholes, ending costly tax breaks, and selective tax increases on cigarettes and fuel,” Massenat said. “As students we have the privilege of being the victims of these cuts, so it is imperative that we demand our legislators increase revenues instead of cutting programs. The strategies they have used in the past were ineffective. It’s time for Oklahoma to try something new.”

http://kfor.com/2016/05/18/students-parents-of-one-oklahoma-city-school-marching-to-capitol-to-protest-budget-cuts/