Perry's comments spur teachers to rally Teachers find fresh motivation for rally

Gov. Rick Perry's comments cause stir among educators, school staff

As thousands of teachers, school staff and parents prepare for a State Capitol rally against education cuts Saturday, they've found new recruits and fresh motivation from an unlikely source: Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry said this week that state leaders were not to blame if as many as 100,000 people lost their jobs at school districts statewide. In response, some teachers and school support staff said Thursday they were angry and discouraged but mostly emboldened to publicly oppose billions of dollars of cuts in education.

"He just seems unaware of the agony schools are going through," said Carolyn Foote, a librarian at Westlake High School in the Eanes Independent School District near Austin. "It's like a slap in the face to anyone working in education."

Foote, a librarian of 20 years and former teacher, said she felt personally attacked when Perry opined that he would first cut non-teaching staff that he thinks has ballooned over the years.

"His comments just only added fuel to the fire," Foote said.

Texas could dismiss everyone in 329,574 non-teacher school jobs and still not save enough to make up for $11.6 billion in public education cuts, according to average salary figures on the Texas Education Agency website.

Some deflated

One school employee said she felt deflated by Perry's remarks.

"I think he's been in office so long that he is going to get his way," said Nadia Sanchez, a kindergarten teacher at Baskin Elementary in the San Antonio Independent School District. "I just don't know if he's ever going to understand."

Other teachers, including Kimberly Reznicek, a fourth-grade teacher at Raba Elementary School in Northside ISD, thought Perry was passing the buck.

"He sounds like he is doing everything he can to be elusive to avoid answering the question that needs to be addressed: How is he going to fund school finance moving forward? That is a state government issue and all school districts can do is deal with how the state makes its school finance decisions. It's not school districts' fault," Reznicek said.

Perry's words, she said, were added motivation for her — and thousands more - to head to Austin during spring break for two rallies. The Save Texas Schools March & Rally is Saturday, and the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers holds its rally and lobbying day on Monday.

Shawna Castellano, a spokeswoman for Save Texas Schools, said the number of people who have said they'll be at the rally has doubled to 5,000 since Perry's comments.

As many as 10,000 are expected for the two rallies, organizers said.

Castellano said that while Perry's comments may have driven some to get involved, organizers want the rallies to be bipartisan.

Educator activism

Most school districts don't allow teachers and staff to engage in political activity during school time or on school property, but some have permitted the distribution of rally fliers or contact information for legislators, according to Melanie Harvey, a fourth grade teacher at Bishop Elementary in Tarrant County.

Terry a speech teacher at Warren High School, said she has the blessing of her district, Northside, to spread her campaign to have people wear Band-Aids on their right hand to mock the ideology behind the cuts.

Some are expecting to see bottled-up emotions emerge at the rallies. Educators feel their moment to speak up is now, as spring break is their first time off work since the proposed cuts were announced.