Teachers, Parents & Kids Rally Against School Cuts

Already among lowest paid in US, teachers fear additional pay cuts

Rather than walk out in protest, teachers in Miami-Dade County late Thursday instead held a “walk in” where parents and students come to schools and help make noise against another round of state budget cuts.

Florida Governor Rick Scott wants to cut $1.75 billion, making his proposed K-12 education budget $16.5 billion. It equates to spending about $700 less per student, likely leading to pay cuts for teachers in exchange for a small cut in your property taxes. And proposed new contributions to pensions by state employees may also provide part of the education budget, the Governor’s aides have told reporters.
 
Thursday’s rallies weren't large. But they were noisy at schools throughout the county from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. One in Hialeah included teachers, parents and students from Dupuis Elementary and Palm Springs Middle.
 
The anger is focused squarely on Florida's new governor and, with legislative leaders, seems headed for a showdown with teachers and their union.
 
"We all could be on the chopping block!" blared a rally leader in a bullhorn at Miami Coral Park High School, where people from several schools crafted a pep rally, of sorts.
 
"Teachers play such an important role. And they're preparing us for our future," declared 5th grader Sydney Cramer. Complete with baseball hat, ponytail, glasses and braces, Sydney held a handmade sign portraying Governor Scott as the Grinch who stole public education.
 
"He is worse than the Grinch, though,” she said, sounding more like a 30-year-old than an 11-year-old.
 
And Sydney may have particular insight. Both her mom and dad are teachers.
 
"I'm here to support teachers and, you know, be there for them,” she said. “Especially my parents, because they're wonderful people."
 
"Funding is already low in the schools,” said her mom Dana Cramer. “And they're looking, Rick Scott is looking to cut even more funds from the schools. And how the schools are going to function with those cuts, I don't know how they can do it."
 
Proposals for further cuts in education come as Florida already ranks at or near the bottom in many aspects of educational funding. And as a conservative political groundswell sweeps the nation looking to reduce the size of government overall.
 
 "They're stabbing them in the back! Right there!" yelled a couple of high school guys pointing out two protesters with mock axes embedded in their backs.
 
Backstabbing or not, teachers and their union are in for a fight with budget cutters. Again.
 
"Because they talk about our kids being globally competitive,” Karen Aronowitz, Miami-Dade Teachers Union president. “How do you make them globally competitive without the kind of high class, world class education they deserve."
 

As more cuts in education come closer to reality in Tallahassee, so too is the possibility the state will be sued for violating the state constitutional mandate of a “high quality” “public” education.

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