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Protesters Crowd Capital Against Budget Cuts for Education
03/18/09 - 02:39 PM
Associated Press
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click for larger image Tallahassee, Fla:

About a thousand demonstrators crowded onto the steps outside the state Capitol to send a message to state lawmakers who were meeting inside.

Students, parents and school administrators from across the state rallied to protest cuts to public schools.

The rally was organized by the state PTA and the Florida Education Association teacher union.

The protesters called on lawmakers to find new sources of revenue to prevent further cuts and restore funding that schools have already lost. Florida is facing about $6 billion budget deficit next fiscal year which starts in July. Even if the state uses it’s federal stimulus money, lawmakers will still face a $3 billion dollar shortfall.

Those attending the rally fear that because public education is the state’s greatest expense, it stands to be the target of more cuts.

Al Carvalho, Miami-Dade Superintendent:

“We cannot sustain one additional dollar being taken from education. We’re fighting for Florida’s use of the economic stimulus money which is at stake at this point and we’re coming to the end of our rope. Our fiscal year ends June 30 and if Florida does have access to those funds by June 30, it will be very, very difficult to prevent job loss and economic opportunities from being lost.”

Marta Perez, Miami-Dade School Board Vice-Chair:

“Because we are the largest employers, it would mean jobs being lost, it would mean people being out in the streets, it would be a terrible outcome if we don’t get the moneys as quickly as possible.”

Susan Pignato, Broward County Teacher:

“You know, these children have their whole lives to look ahead. They are the ones that need to be the most educated work force in our future and it’s just not going to happen if they keep cutting education.”

Rep. Martin Kiar, (D) Davie:

“There’s $2.7 billion in stimulus dollars that are great President Barack Obama has provided to us for the pre-k-12. There’s $2.7 billion plus for higher education. We need to use that money and plug these budget gaps and we need to figure ways to raise revenue so we can provide our kids with the best education possible.”

Robert Dow, Palm Beach County Classroom Teachers, President:

“The bottom line is our future gets affected, the future of our children gets affected, our children will suffer from the people here in Tallahassee not doing their jobs.”

Mark Castellano, Lee County Teachers Association:

“We have lost hundreds of support personnel already and we’re looking at losing up to 800 teachers in our district, as well as programs as art, music, PE, as well as other elective programs are going to take a big hit and we’re very, very concerned about that because of the opportunities that the communities are going to lose.”

Bob Rushlow, Lee County Support Association:

“It’s going to have a tremendous impact as far as the economy of Lee County, not to mention what it’s going to mean to our children. Our children who are the ones who are going to lose. They are going to lose programs, they are going to services and we’re looking at a generation of children that is not going to get educated in the fashion that they deserve to be educated and the priority they should be getting from us as far as education is concerned.”

David Holmes, Pasco County Teacher:

“In my county I see a shortage of textbook, there’s a shortage of basic supplies, like pencils and pens and paper, a shortage of other resources present there, so the situation is not good.”

“In my classroom I see a shortage of textbooks, there’s a shortage of basic supplies like pencils and pens and paper, shortage of resources are present there so the situation is not good.”

Rep. Rick Kriseman, (D) St. Petersburg:

“We’ve got to decide if education funding is gonna be a priority for us. And if it’s gonna be a priority then we gotta fund it and it’s not what we’ve done and it’s time we started to do that.”

“They can’t afford it any longer. The schools, the hit’s they’ve taken, closing schools, laying teachers off, laying support personnel off, you know, parents are concerned about the education their kids are getting and we as Floridians ought to be concerned about the education all of our kids are getting because if we’re gonna have a future in our state our kids have to be educated and prepared and ready to enter the 21st century.”

The demonstrators also spoke out in support of a proposal being pushed by the state teachers union for temporarily increasing the state’s sales tax. The Florida Education Association is calling on the Legislature to increase the sales tax by a penny per dollar for three years to prevent more spending cuts in the state’s public schools.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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