After wave of teacher activism, some fall short in midterms

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Educators who ran for office on the wings of the “Red4Ed” walkouts saw mixed success on Election Day.

Still, advocates say their work will have lasting effects by pushing education onto the agenda of many midterm campaigns. And they say they’ll be watching to see that candidates who held themselves out as champions live up to their pledges.

Thousands of teachers converged on state capitols in Arizona, West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Colorado this year with demands for better pay and school funding.

Many went home inspired to run for office themselves.

Special education teacher Tina Bojanowski is one of at least 10 educators to win seats in the Kentucky Legislature, but says that in the wake of so much activism, she’s surprised there weren’t more.