TAMPA, Fla. — Teachers from multiple Bay area districts are headed to Tallahassee Monday to discuss education funding.
- Thousands of teachers from around the state, and Bay area, headed to Tallahassee
- Teachers to discuss education funding with lawmakers
- Bay area teacher assciations want additional teacher pay, district control over spending
The educators say they are coming together to let state lawmakers know they need to do a better job when it comes to funding.
Thousands of teachers from around the state are headed to Tallahassee - ready to march on the capitol to rally for teacher pay and other issues on the eve of the legislative session.
Buses full of teachers will be arriving in Tallahassee for most of the morning - with a jam-packed schedule of events, including the planned march on the capitol.
Gov. Ron DeSantis may have declared 2020 "The Year of the Teacher" but local teacher associations say his accompanying proposal is not enough.
DeSantis is proposing raising the minimum teacher salary to $47,500. But Bay area teacher's associations say his proposal isn't enough.
Some associations say more people working in education need more fair compensation, including tenure teachers, bus drivers and school support staff.
And, teachers say they want additional funding for public education and they want local districts to have more control over how additional funds are spent.
"We believe we can do better in this state," said Rob Kriete with the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. "We also know that the governor has begun some discussions and lawmakers about really funding teacher’s salaries and our education, we just want to make them understand that it’s important that we fund education and that money is flowed to the locals so they can decide how that money is going to spent."