TEACHERS TO LOBBY FOR FUNDING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992                   TAG: 9201300328
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
TEACHERS TO LOBBY FOR FUNDING
Hundreds of teachers and parents from around Virginia will converge on Richmond today in an unprecedented effort to plead education's case to state lawmakers.
Among the pilgrims will be 40 teachers from the New River Valley, who were to board a bus in Radford at 4:30 this morning for the trip to the Capitol. About another 100 people were to head out from Roanoke and surrounding localities by bus and automobile.
"We're trying to make an impression on legislators," said Reba Goff, a teacher at Check Elementary School and president of the Floyd County Education Association - which is sending six teachers to Richmond.
The teachers want to make sure cuts made in educational funding during the current two-year budget don't continue into the next two years, Goff said.
Today's rally will be the first time the Virginia Education Association and the Virginia Parent-Teacher Association have gotten together for legislative support for education.
The associations, which don't always see eye to eye, are united in their desire to be heard by lawmakers, said Nancy Taylor of Mechanicsville, the state PTA president.
"Because of the economy and the way things are going, I think its even more important the educational groups are together," Taylor said.
During the current biennium, approximately $90 million has been cut from the state's $2 billion budget for local schools.
The PTA wants to impress on legislators not only the importance of education but also of dealing with other child-related issues such as guns in schools, Taylor said.
Among the PTA's concerns, Taylor said, is the need for funding to reduce disparity among Virginia's school divisions, to restore programs that have been cut and to pay for new programs.
Taylor said she was hoping to see 1,000 people at today's rally, which will be held at 11:30 a.m. near the bell tower on the Capitol grounds.
The teachers' goal is to protest the proposed state budget as insufficient to pay for what needs to be done educationally.
Also included in the education association's agenda is increased state funding for teacher salaries and revival of teacher salary requirements in state law.
Organizers decided to hold the rally during the week because that's when the lawmakers are in town.
Keith Geiger, president of the National Education Association, will be among the rally's speakers, along with Taylor and VEA President Rob Jones.
A bus leaving from Roanoke for Richmond this morning was to carry teachers, PTA leaders, members of Chambers of Commerce, school board members and at least one school superintendent, said Gary Waldo, a regional official with the VEA based in Roanoke.
"Mostly what we are trying to convey is that educational funding concern is so serious it requires a broad-based coalition to make the point we need better support from the General Assembly," Waldo said. "What we're going to do is take our best shot and see what we can accomplish."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB