‘It’s every educator standing up’: Virginia teachers march in Richmond
RICHMOND — Hundreds of Virginia teachers descended on the state Capitol on Monday, following in the footsteps of educators nationwide who have launched a wave of activism highlighting the plight of public education.
They protested low wages that force educators into second jobs, decrepit school buildings that sometimes leave students shivering and a dearth of school support staff — issues that have animated protests in Los Angeles, West Virginia, Oklahoma and elsewhere.
“We’ve got kids in crumbling school buildings. We’ve got students with textbooks 15 years old. We’ve got teachers and support staff paid far below the national average. We’ve got technology that either doesn’t work or doesn’t exist,” said Jim Livingston, president of the Virginia Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union. “It’s time to fund our future.”
They were clad in red, the color worn in teacher protests that began last year in Republican-led states, as they marched through downtown streets flanked by police. They spanned several city blocks, halting traffic as people watched and captured video from balconies and stoops, the public library and a YMCA.
They carried signs that declared “Education is a right” and chanted “Fund our schools!”
They marched until they crowded the steps of the Capitol, where speakers including Virginia Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson waited.
Educators demonstrate for better pay and working conditions in Virginia. (Julia Rendleman for The Washington Post)
Unlike the demonstrations in other states, the Virginia march wasn’t expected to evolve into a days-long walkout or strike. Sarah Pedersen, a march organizer, described the march as a first step to put the General Assembly “on notice.”
Public school enrollment has grown 5 percent in the past decade, while the amount of money the state spends on each student has fallen, according to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a Richmond think tank. That has forced school systems to CONTINUE READING: ‘It’s every educator standing up’: Virginia teachers march in Richmond - The Washington Post
