Protestors for increased school fund shout outside the Senate chamber as they flood the state Capitol for the third day in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Associated Press) 
 
 Protestors for increased school fund shout outside the Senate chamber as they flood the state Capitol for the third day in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) (Associated Press) 
 
 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When Oklahoma Republicans finally passed a massive tax hike for hundreds of millions of new dollars for public schools and teacher pay raises, they thought they would get a thank you. 
 
 Instead, educators and their supporters marched on the Capitol. They brought pent-up with them frustration after years of budget cuts, swelling class sizes and a decade without a raise. 
 
 Their protests, and some school closures, will continue for a fourth straight day Thursday amid a movement in red states from West Virginia to Kentucky to Arizona to press for more money in classrooms. 
 
 Now these teachers face a tough question as the walkout threatens to keep many schools closed for the rest of the week: Do they risk losing public support for their efforts, especially after lawmakers handed them much of what they asked for? 
 
 "There's always that concern, but our parents are just as frustrated as we are," said Amy Radtke, a high-school science teacher from Norman, a college town about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the Capitol in Oklahoma City, where schools will remain closed for the rest of the week. 
 
 Ashleigh Hardwick, a single mom whose daughter attends elementary school in Norman, said she's had to rely on friends and family to watch her daughter while she works at a local florist shop, but that so far she's standing behind the teachers. 
 
 "It's been a hassle, that's for sure," said Hardwick, who said she may have to take a day off work without pay. "But if it's going to better my child's future ... I think I can handle missing a few days of work." 
 
 Still, some question why teachers are continuing to stay off the job after lawmakers approved new money for schools and raises. 
 
 Preston Leehan, a construction worker who was surveying gas lines Wednesday in Oklahoma City, said the $6,000-per-year raise that teachers received sounds like a pretty good deal for a public-sector employee. 
 
 "I don't know of police or firefighters who strike after they get a $6,000 pay raise," Leehan said. 
 
 Even within the teachers' own ranks, there are divisions. 
 
 Ginger Tinney, the executive director of the Professional Oklahoma Educators, which represents about 12,000 teachers, said she believes public support for teachers will wane if schools remain closed. 
 
 "Our students need their teachers," Tinney said. "I think the public is with us, but it could erode the longer it goes." 
 
 Many teachers already are back at work, especially in rural communities where local boards didn't vote to shut down. Still, schools in the state's largest districts remain shuttered, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa and many suburban communities. Thousands have thronged the Capitol for three straight days seeking more money for the classrooms. 
 
 That has proved frustrating for some GOP leaders, especially those who broke with party orthodoxy to raise taxes to pay for teacher raises. 
 
 Republican Gov. Mary Fallin on Wednesday called on the teachers to return to classrooms. In one interview Tuesday, she likened striking teachers to "a teenage kid that wants a better car." 
 
 "That was kind of a slap in the face," said Donita Goforth, an elementary art teacher from Grove, Oklahoma, who drove three-and-a-half hours to rally at the Capitol on Wednesday. 
 
 Rep. Earl Sears, a Republican from Bartlesville and a retired school administrator, said he voted for the tax hike and supports teachers' efforts, but acknowledged they run the risk of losing public support the longer that schools remain closed. 
 
 "I think there were some members who felt if we passed this, everything will be fine and everybody will move on," Sears said, "but it's really kind of unlocked a lot of emotions." 
 
 Teachers now are pushing lawmakers to pass several more revenue-raising measures, including one that eliminates the income tax deduction for capital gains that would generate about $120 million annually. Another to expand tribal gaming would bring in about $20 million, but both of those measures face broad GOP opposition. 
 
 It's still not clear if the passage of those measures, or another to require certain online vendors to pay sales tax, will be enough to placate teachers and get them to return to the classroom. 
 
 "We just need to keep working, wrap this thing up," Sears said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy ||||| (CNN) When an Oklahoma teacher revealed what the chairs in her classroom look like, she couldn't imagine how far one photo could go. 
 
 On March 28, Laurissa Kovacs took to Facebook to raise awareness about the conditions her students learn -- and sit -- in. A week later, the art teacher from Puterbaugh Middle School in McAlester, Oklahoma, had received more than $44,000 in donated supplies, as of Wednesday evening. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Teacher's photo leads to outpouring of support Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Teacher's photo leads to outpouring of support 02:27 
 
 In her post , Kovacs described having to bring folding chairs from home because there are not enough seats in her class. The lack of space and the large class size also force her to scale back on projects and activities, she wrote. 
 
 "At the end of the day I felt like I needed people to see just a glimpse of the issues we face every day," she told CNN. 
 
 According to Kovacs, seats are so scarce that one student carried his chair to the pencil sharpener to save his spot. 
 
 Her post had been shared over 82,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon, with thousands of comments asking how to help. 
 
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– Teachers in Oklahoma will continue their protests for better pay and more education funding for a fourth day on Thursday, reports the AP. One of those participating in the walkout is middle school art teacher Laurissa Kovacs, who has received an overwhelming response to a Facebook post about classroom conditions, reports CNN. Kovacs wrote about crowded classrooms and a lack of supplies, and she included a photo of a broken chair. Since then, she's been deluged with $44,000 in contributions ranging from scissors to Google Chromebooks. "The past five days has been totally surreal and I don't think the full effect will hit me until I'm back in my classroom with my students," the teacher at Puterbaugh Middle School in McAlester tells CNN. "I think they will be amused to see me cry when I'm explaining everything." Packages continue to pour in to the school, and it's reached the point where Kovacs has created an Amazon registry for donations. She promises to share everything with other teachers.