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Educators Protest Cuts, Deliver Pennies
March 19, 2009
Teachers and school administrators from across the state headed to Tallahassee Wednesday to show state leaders they care about children in our schools to ask for a reduction in funding cuts.
“We want to make sure that education is a priority in the state,” Escambia County Superintendent Malcolm Thomas told NorthEscambia.com while he was driving back from Tallahassee. “I understand the reality is that the state has to cut something, but they need to think about the children.”
Thomas expects another $13 million in state funding to be cut from Escambia’s schools. That on top of the $20 million already cut. Before the cuts are done, Thomas is looking at trimming about nine percent of district positions — perhaps hundreds of jobs — if the legislature continues to cut educational funding.
For non-tenured teachers, it may spell layoffs. The district’s contracts with the teacher’s union will almost guarantee jobs for certified tenured teachers that are teaching in their field.
While about 40 Escambia teachers and staff loaded on a charter bus for the trip to Tallahassee Wednesday, Thomas drove his own car. He departed early on his roadtrip, and he stayed late. He was a man on a mission.
That mission was to walk the halls of the state capital, lobbying everyone he could find in state government for education funding.
“I want them to think about the impact on the children,” Thomas said. And he wants to the state to cut unfunded mandates — requirements that districts fund certain projects without providing the money — whether it be in education, health care or any other arena.
At Wednesday’s eduation rally in Tallahassee, educators delivered 2.6 million pennies, one for each child in school in Florida. The Florida Education Association is asked the legislature to raise the state’s sales tax by a penny to fund education.
Pictured above: Educators delivered 2.6 million pennies to the state capital, one for each child in Florida, on Wednesday. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com courtesy WEAR.
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