Florida teachers plan to march on Capitol demanding more money for schools

James Call | Tallahassee Democrat

Show Caption Hide Caption Teacher rally at the Capitol Jan. 14 Three thousand public school teachers rallied at the state capitol; protesting standardized tests, low pay and a lack of respect from lawmakers.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In a move designed to elevate public education into a major issue this session and campaign season, a Florida teachers union has issued a call to action with a protest planned for Monday, the eve of the start of the state Legislature’s 2020 session.

The Florida Education Association said it will bus thousands of teachers, parents and public education supporters to Tallahassee for a “Take on Tallahassee” march on the Capitol while a state Senate Education Committee discusses how to boost pay for classroom instructors.

The teachers union and its allies say a decade of inadequate funding has decimated Florida's public education system. It cites state statistics that indicate more than 300,000 students started classes last fall without a full-time permanent teacher.

When the new school year began, districts scrambled to fill more than 3,500 teaching vacancies statewide.

“It is time to speak truth to power,” said Fedrick Ingram, president of the FEA. “We have seen more than a decade of disinvestment in public education in this state, and that has to stop."

Florida ranks among the bottom 10 states in teacher pay – with many school staff earning a wage below the federal poverty line – and in funding for students – with per-pupil spending in constant dollars about $300 less than it was in 2007 ($8,490 to $8,817 when adjusted for inflation).

And while Gov. Ron DeSantis has proclaimed this the “Year of the Teacher” – with a $600 million proposal to boost starting pay for classroom instructors to $47,500, which would be the second most in the nation, and another $300 million in bonuses – educators want lawmakers to commit to a “decade of progress" by spending an additional $2 billion a year in each of the next 10 years.

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“Let’s not pretend there’s not politics involved with this,” DeSantis said of the union’s criticism of his proposal.

“I’m a Republican. They’re not. What I’m doing is never going to be enough,” DeSantis said when he rolled out his budget proposal.

“My job is not to do what the union wants, it’s what I think is best for education and particularly for individual teachers,” DeSantis said.

Allison Tant, the former state Democratic Party chair, candidate for statehouse, and mother of two high school students, said she plans to join the demonstration.

“We need a strong public education system for our economy, the health of the state and for peace of mind,” said Tant, who has wrestled with an education bureaucracy to provide services for a special needs child.

“It is the underpinning of our society. How can someone go to work when they are worried about their child? How can a policeman do his job, or anyone for that matter, if they are worried about their child at school?” Tant said.

Speakers at the rally will include Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, and Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Posts on Facebook promote activist and television personality Al Sharpton as a speaker for the event, but as of Thursday morning Sharpton's appearance had not been confirmed.

The NEA and AFT are the nation's largest unions. They are on something of a roll with teachers in the past year pressuring lawmakers in West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona to increase spending on schools.

Follow James Call on Twitter: @CallTallahassee.