Teachers try to educate lawmakers

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Another state is beginning to wobble.

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/print.php?referer=http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0304teacherrally04.html

Teachers try to educate lawmakers

3,000 rally to take issue with pay, requirements of Bush legislation

Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 4, 2004 12:00 AM

About 3,000 public-school teachers, students and school administrators 
swarmed the state Capitol on Wednesday to press lawmakers to raise teacher 
pay and to protest the unfunded requirements in President Bush's No Child 
Left Behind Act.

The rally took on a rock-concert atmosphere as more than 60 buses dropped 
off chanting, sign-wielding educators from around the Valley and state 
throughout the late afternoon.

Many wore T-shirts that said "I am not a terrorist," a reference to 
Secretary of Education Rod Paige's recent comment to a group of governors 
that the National Education Association was a "terrorist organization." The 
nationwide teachers union has been critical of No Child Left Behind, and 
its Arizona branch organized Wednesday's rally.

"I think you are the nicest terrorists that I've ever seen," Napolitano 
told the crowd. "I was in the meeting with Secretary Paige (who has since 
apologized), and he wasn't kidding."

Napolitano touted her budget, which calls for more than $25 million to 
start all-day kindergarten and $53 million to boost pay for teachers and 
other state employees despite a $300 million revenue shortfall. She also 
called on federal lawmakers to pay for the new testing and accountability 
mandates in the No Child Left Behind Act.

Norb Schneider, a history teacher at Independence High School in Glendale, 
said the more tests teachers give, the less time they have for instruction. 
But he was most upset with Paige's comments.

"I see myself as a stand-up parent, and I spend more time with some of 
these kids than they spend at home, spending a lot of my own money on 
supplies," Schneider said. "For someone to call me a terrorist is just 
offensive."

For Paradise Valley High School art department head Todd Parten, the 
legislature's most pressing issue is teacher pay. Parten said he has not 
gotten more than a 1 percent raise in four years, while his take-home pay 
has shrunk because of increased health-care premiums.

"I can handle not getting a raise, just don't take money away from me," 
said Parten, a father of two whose salary is about $36,000 after eight 
years in the classroom. "I can't afford to take care of my family."

Senate Appropriations Chairman Bob Burns took issue with many of the 
protesters who said Arizona ranks 49th in education funding. Burns said 
lawmakers have increased school spending by $2 billion since 2001, and 
Arizona leads the nation in school-construction spending. He also said the 
state is above the national average for teacher salaries when you factor in 
the state's low cost of living.

"That ranking is a bogus number," said Burns, R-Glendale. "Our education 
spending is adequate. We ought to be taking pride in what we are doing in 
education instead of constantly being on the negative."

Earlier, a group of House Republicans, education leaders and school 
officials stood up against a legislative effort to opt out of the Bush 
administration's No Child Left Behind Act. Rep. Bill Konopnicki, R-Safford, 
said the Bush mandates need some reforms and funding, but he's not willing 
to cost the state $331 million in federal education aid if Arizona follows 
Utah and opts to go it alone.

House Majority Leader Eddie Farnsworth, R-Gilbert, is sponsoring the effort 
to opt out, saying that without the mandates on testing, teacher experience 
and accountability, schools could lower their administrative expenses and 
wouldn't need the federal money.