Friday, May 22, 2015

Wearing Red for Public Ed, and Acting Up

There was no school in the Highline School District Thursday.  The teachers joined a rolling one day walkout, spreading across the state,  as several districts at a time close school to protest and prod the state legislature to fully fund basic education.  

The legislature is dawdling and in contempt of a state Supreme Court ruling to get the job done.  Instead of looking at raising revenue to fund lower class size that voters asked for, pay for teacher cost of living increases, which have not increased for seven years or more, and increase funding for basic education, the Republican controlled legislature is looking for ways to just shift money around. That won't do the job.  But of course, it is always the teacher's' fault when test scores show that not everybody is on grade level.  

As retired teachers, parents of a teacher, and grandparents of students, we rallied with them on the streets today.  Tom and I are old hands at acting up when it comes to teacher union business. 

Jill was out early as one of the area captains.   We showed up later with the kids.
Here's our corner.

Of course there was a Starbucks nearby.  They allowed us the use of their restroom, and even brought out coffee for the teachers.  I bought myself a latte, of course.

 Jill and I went visiting on another corner and found some of my former colleagues. 
Isaac wasn't into it much, but Irene was a trooper. 

 Oh, I should mention the legislature just approved an 11% raise for themselves. 

 After several hours demonstrating on the street corner, and after a lunch break, we marched through town to the park next to the central high school for a rally.  
 We didn't stick around for that.  We walked back into town to the Farmer's market instead, and then home to rest and recover.  Acting up is hard work. 

14 comments:

  1. I have been noticing a lot of red in the streets here in Bellingham, even. And the anchors on TV yesterday were all in red on Channel 7. I didn't know that about the legislators giving themselves a raise. Boo! >:0

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  2. If they would simply reinstate the pop and candy tax or create something like it, they could afford to fully fund education. Remember when the lotto was allowed into our state and we were told that it would fund education? And what about all of the revenue the state is making from selling pot? How about raising the tax on alcohol and tobacco? Really, they can't come up with a way to fund this? Thanks for acting up!

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  3. Yae for all you teachers!!! I don't think I've seen anything like that here in Hawaii.

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  4. Good to know you are still activists. You are needed. Isaac really looked like he would love to have been anywhere else but there.
    Smart to protest near a Starbucks.
    Good luck and hope you made a dent.

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  5. Good for this system and good for you for continuing to support public education. I taught 28 years in VA. Kudos to Starbucks for their support as well.

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  6. When you guys "act up" is sure is fun to tag along with you. Have I ever mentioned that you have a beautiful family? :)

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  7. Good for you. I don't know what the answer is to fund education. There has to be a balance in building state budgets so that all essential services receive what they need to do the job our citizens deserve.

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  8. great blog! so happy to have found you! do you show your glass flowers on here? i couldn't find your search bar?

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  9. It's sad but the same story seems to play out all over the place. We work our butts off and there's little support. If they could roll back salaries 25% they would and a few years later come asking for more roll back. I support you 100%

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  10. My district is over 10 years without a new contract..

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  11. "Instead of looking at raising revenue to fund lower class size that voters asked for, pay for teacher cost of living increases, which have not increased for seven years or more, and increase funding for basic education, the Republican controlled legislature is looking for ways to just shift money around." Wow, you just described Minnesota! Hang in there, thanks for all the support. Teachers rock!

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  12. Good job! Unfortunately, teachers are viewed as public servants, with the stress on servants, so their pay will never be up to par.

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