Billboard Campaign Aims To Recruit Oklahoma Teachers To Texas

In the wake of Oklahoma's teacher walk-out, some teachers are still opting to leave the state. 

But a new ad campaign from a school district south of the border has some wondering, is it smart marketing or just plain unfair? There are about 10 billboards up in cities across the state hoping to lure Oklahoma teachers to Fort Worth, Texas. 

The billboards are up here in the metro, Norman, Tulsa and Stillwater. They read, "Your Future is in a Fort Worth classroom... starting salary $52,000 dollars."

To put that into some context, that's about $10,000 dollars more a year than what the average Oklahoma high school teacher makes. 

Some have called the billboard ads unfair, but some teachers say it should get the attention of lawmakers and Fort Worth officials say they're simply looking to hire the best. 

"What should be fair is that our legislators are investing in our childrens' future, investing in quality education in our state," said Katherine Bishop, OEA Vice President. 

"Sure it's a little opportunistic, but the bottom line is we're in the business of educating children and our goal is to get the best teachers available," Clint Bond with the Fort Worth Independent School District said.

Fort Worth district officials said they already employ some Oklahomans and since the billboards went up they've had a number of calls from teachers.