Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502080051
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
They are the educators who make up the Virginia Education Association, and this week more than 400 of them vowed to be heard in Capitol Square. Their goal? Corner their legislators to reiterate one wish: Restore funds to education.
"It's the children in your classroom that make you do it," said Mary Biggs, a second-grade teacher at Harding Avenue Elementary in Blacksburg and vice president of the Montgomery County Education Association. "Who else is going to speak for them if we don't?"
The General Assembly session has turned out favorably so far for the VEA, a watchdog organization designed to protect teachers' rights and children's education. The General Assembly has killed some bills the state teachers organization opposed - charter schools, tax credits for families of children in private schools and family life education.
But the fight for funding is not over, they say.
Allen's proposed budget would also eliminate funding for such programs as dropout prevention, English as a Second Language, maintenance and a program set up to compensate schools systems with declining enrollment (schools receive state funding based on the number of students that attend and when enrollment declines, they lose money).
"What I find most offensive is that 82 percent of our prisoners are dropouts, and [Allen] took all the money from dropout programs to fund prisons," said VEA President Rob Jones of Virginia Beach. "They're turning up the heat on public schools, saying public education is going down the tubes. But I say that is not true ....
"Go over there today and ask them to stop turning up the heat on public education," Jones said to the crowded room of teachers.
Wearing a bright yellow pin that said "Turn down the Heat on Public Schools," B.J. Mullins, president of the Montgomery County Education, reflected on 1994, the first time she participated in VEA's Lobby Day.
"For the first time last year, I felt like what I was doing was making a difference," she said. "Now I'm hooked."
Ralph Shotwell, the VEA's finance director, said Allen's proposals "would have dismantled what we have worked on achieving for so long."
Shotwell added that Allen's cuts would have cost education $16 million statewide. Fortunately, he added, legislators have recommended reinstating money for dropout prevention, maintenance funds and the enrollment loss fund.
Teacher's rights - including grievance equity procedures, retirement supplements and higher salaries - also are high on the VEA's priority list.
"We must continue to push the General Assembly on the salary issue," Shotwell said. "On the state level, we are $3,000 behind the national average [$36,973], and what is most shocking is that after 10 years of experience - in two out of three districts - our teachers are making only $27,500."
In Montgomery County, the average teacher salary in 1993-1994 was $28,896. Other localities were: Floyd, $26,357; Radford, $33,452; Giles, $31,169; and Pulaski, $31,647.
Six teachers from Montgomery County, and one from the Floyd County Education Association tracked down their representatives Monday to speak on these issues.
"My direct efforts have been to restore educational initiatives that we lost in Allen's cuts," said Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg. "I have found that all input, not only from the teachers, but from all of the 12th District, has been very helpful in this effort. Instead of fine-tuning a budget that was already in place, we've been faced with repairing a budget that has been dismantled, and it has been difficult."
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, met with VEA members Sunday night.
"We discussed all of their concerns, most of which we agreed upon," Griffith said Tuesday. "However, I do have some misgivings about the English as a Second Language program, particularly in the Northern Virginia area."
Fairfax County alone received $744,903, for it's 9,151 foreign-speaking students. In Montgomery County, where the international population is concentrated mostly in Blacksburg, the state contributed $15,416 to serve approximately 78 international students.
Dick Pulley, VEA's head of government relations, warned the teachers not to celebrate too early.
"We've been surprisingly successful, but [Allen] has vowed to veto," Pulley said. "We must continue to push, continue to have good bipartisan rapport."
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1995
by CNB