Jim Rosica
The Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, is planning a noon rally in the Capitol courtyard Thursday to show lawmakers their “anger and exasperation” with how the Legislature handles education issues.
The group announced the “Enough is Enough!” event in a Wednesday news release.
Parents, public school supporters and others “will express their anger and exasperation with Florida’s testing mania, the blaming and shaming of teachers, the state’s unfettered support for vouchers and for-profit charters, the state’s refusal to fairly implement the class size rules voters placed in the state constitution, changes in higher education and the need for a higher minimum wage,” the release said.
Before the rally, there will be a “March for Public Education” from the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center to the Capitol, beginning at 11:15 a.m.
On a separate web page, the group posted: “Our children are being cheated out of a good education by policy makers and education reforms that are designed to meet the needs of adults rather than the needs of our children: High stakes testing, demonizing of teachers, voucher school and charter school profiteering disguised as ‘choice’ and schemes to undermine Florida’s class size amendment.”
Featured speakers include FEA President Joanne McCall, FEA Vice President Fedrick Ingram, FEA Secretary-Treasurer Luke Flynt, Florida PTA President Mindy Haas, NAACP Florida State Conference President Adora Obi Nweze ,and Service Employees International Union Florida State Council President Monica Russo.
