In Oklahoma, tens of thousands of teachers and school staffers rallied at the state Capitol Monday, as they began a strike aimed at winning an increase in pay and more funding for public schools. Oklahoma’s public education budget has been slashed more than any other state since the start of the recession in 2008, and its teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation. Meanwhile, thousands of teachers rallied in Frankfort, Kentucky, on Monday, in a similar protest—demanding a reversal to a provision in a recently passed bill about sewage treatment that gutted their pension benefits. The teachers filled the rotunda of the Kentucky state Capitol, chanting “Fund our schools!”

Protesters: “Fund our schools! Fund our schools! Fund our schools! Fund our schools!”

Eddie Campbell: “We are here today to rally for our schools, to rally for our public servants.”

In Oklahoma, some school districts are only open four days a week because they can’t afford the fifth day, and teachers use that fifth day to work second and third jobs.