Teachers rally for funding

About 50 local educators and other supporters turned out to Yowell Meadow Park Saturday morning to celebrate the county educational system and to encourage local residents to attend Tuesday evening’s public hearing on the proposed county budget for the coming fiscal year.

The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the county administration building on North Main Street.

Several speakers during Saturday’s rally in the park noted that it is not too early to begin organizing to fight further education funding cuts expected for the fiscal year 2012 budget.

“Lord knows our kids didn’t cause these tough economic times, but they are taking the brunt of it,” said Virginia Education Association Vice President Meg Gruber.

Cutting programs and staffing to the point where “kids are virtually sitting in each other’s laps is not good for our children,” she added.

“Culpeper has 10 schools and is working on a budget that almost sufficiently funds eight of them. Next year, there will be $900,000 less in state funding for an already under-funded system.”

Gruber encouraged those in attendance at the rally to let the county supervisors know how they feel about the coming funding reductions.

“You are not alone; it’s not just Culpeper that is facing this. But you can be leaders,” Gruber said.

Town council candidate Steve Jenkins and Chip Coleman, who is running for mayor, offered their encouragement to the educators.

Jenkins said he has suggested to the town that it return the roughly $2,000 in water and sewer fees it charges the system for the schools connected to town’s utilities.

Jenkins said even that relatively small amount of money might be enough to prevent schools from having to charge higher fees for participation in school sports or having to reduce the numbers of instructional support personnel.

Coleman said his top priority is economic development.

“The first thing they ask is, ‘How strong is the local school system.’ So it’s very important for us to work together to keep the school system as strong as we can,” Coleman said. “We need to get organized, be positive and get the word out.”

Betsy Smith, youth minister for Culpeper Baptist Church, brought a petition for local educators and their supporters to sign, asking that the U.S. Congress “revisit” the No Child Left Behind program.

Smith said elected officials are quick to site education as a top priority, but education funding is usually hit hard when economic times are tough.

“Their priorities are not where they should be. It’s reflected in the salaries; it’s reflected in the state funding,” Smith said.

Numerous speakers noted that budgeting a fourth consecutive year without salary increases endangers the system’s ability to retain its teachers.

“We want our teachers to be paid a decent wage and we want enough teachers in our classrooms,” said Annmarie Steimel, a parent of five Culpeper school graduates who spoke Saturday.

Pat Baker, a teacher for 38 years and a former employee of the Culpeper system, said it will be difficult to prepare students for today’s high-tech, global world while continuing to reduce funding for education.

“Give me a piece of chalk and a closet and I can teach,” she said. “But it isn’t preparing the kids for the 21st century — they need the technology.”