The wheels were already in motion to start cutting money from education, with Alachua County being one of the worst hit, so educators, students and union reps took to lobbying legislators at the state capitol to reverse what was already in motion.

Recently the president of the Florida Education Association, Andy Ford, asked, “Are we sacrificing a generation of students on an altar of fiscal responsibility?” In the last 15 months, Ford says, “… the [Florida] Legislature has cut more than $3 billion from the education budgets of our public schools.”

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http://feaweb.org/

Watch: Rally In Tally – Part 1

In 2008, “Budget Cuts Don’t Heal!” the protest cry of teachers, students and administrators as school districts across the state were faced with unprecedented cuts in their budgets.

When I heard the president of the Teacher’s Union and the Superintendent of schools were joining forces –often they are at odds over policy and teacher salaries— something big was brewing.

According to the PEW Center on the States, under President George W. Bush , federal spending on education dropped by tens of billions of dollars, while America’s students fell further behind other developed countries in math, sciences and overall academics in general.

While stimulus money offered by the new administration helped shore up school budgets nationally, the picture continues to look bleak for all across the  country, especially Florida as property values continue to plunge.

According to Marc Caputo of the Miami Herald, “Florida’s real-estate market is crumbling so badly that the taxable property value for schools statewide will tumble 9.5 percent next year, state economists…”

When I followed the caravan of school buses up to Tallahassee, Kevin Watson of the Florida Education Association had this to share, “The budget is on the desk the budget is terrible.. What is the best thing we can do on the budget? What is the best approach? You just need to let them know what the real story will be.”

Are you making your voice heard to your local lawmakers on the state of your children’s public school education?

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http://www.stateline.org/live/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=136&languageId=1&contentId=86486

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1362894.html

Watch: Rally In Tally – Part 2