Today’s Solutions: May 16, 2026

Even as they face threats–a looming lawsuit in Arizona; jail time in Colorado–public school teachers continue to strike. The two western states are just the latest to join a movement that began in West Virginia to call for higher pay and better benefits for public employees. The strikes have precipitated some changes: The two-week strike in West Virginia brought about a 5% raise for teachers, Kentucky teachers mobilized lawmakers to override the governor’s veto of a budget that didn’t increase education spending, and Oklahoma secured $500 million in new funding for education–less than they hoped for, but a turnaround in a state known for ushering in some of the deepest cuts to education spending in recent years.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

A daycare built a ‘forest floor’, and it changed kids’ immu...

Time in nature is valuable for children’s physical and mental health, so one daycare in Finland decided to invest in a playground that replicated ...

Read More

This 30-minute training can help teenagers’ response to stress

Many successful people live by the expression “in every tragedy, there is an opportunity.” It turns out that the same kind of thinking can ...

Read More

The ongoing success of the 4-day workweek: a year in, companies share insights

Nearly 61 British businesses made the historic switch to a four-day workweek in 2022, setting in motion a cascade of beneficial effects that are still ...

Read More

Bartering is back: how to trade your skills and goods without spending a dime

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a world where we’re used to swiping cards and tapping phones to pay, it might seem old-fashioned ...

Read More