Teachers take to streets to oppose proposed education cuts

Teachers rallied throughout the Yakima Valley and statewide Monday, hoping to raise community awareness of proposed budget cuts to education as legislators returned to Olympia for a special session.

Picketing outside Roosevelt Elementary School in Yakima on Monday morning, special education teacher LeAnn Koepke raised her sign high.

"Don't balance the budget on the backs of children," it read.

In Sunnyside, more than 100 teachers wearing "red for public ed" held signs and chanted in front of Sunnyside High School, then attended a rally inside the auditorium led by the Sunnyside Education Association. Similar events were held in Grandview, Mabton and East Valley.

Meanwhile, hundreds of educators flocked to Olympia, where legislators began the process of slashing $2 billion from the state's $32.2 billion 2011-2013 budget, on top of about $5 billion in cuts handed down in May.

In the Yakima Valley, educators are particularly worried about Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposed cuts to levy equalization, which provides matching funds for school levies in property-poor districts. Yakima receives more than $14 million in levy equalization each year; under Gregoire's four-tiered proposal, the district would lose 10 percent of that money, or almost $1.5 million of the district's nearly $168 million annual budget.

The Sunnyside School District receives nearly $6 million a year and would also lose 10 percent, or about $600,000, if Gregoire's proposal were adopted.

At Monday's rally, organizers passed out pre-addressed and stamped postcards to tell local legislators how cuts would hurt students.

Another big concern is a proposal to cut four days from the school year, which would mean a pay cut for teachers.

Gregoire has proposed "buying back" expenditures like levy equalization and the full school year -- along with a host of social services -- with a half-cent sales tax increase that would expire after three years and raise almost $500 million by June 2013. Koepke, who's been with the district 18 years, thinks that's "a great solution."

"Hopefully, a temporary solution, but if it saves jobs and saves quality education, then I'm all for it," she said. "... Half a percent is not going to kill anybody."

Monday afternoon, about 25 teachers and students waved signs at the busy intersection of 16th and Summitview avenues, prompting frequent car honks and thumbs-up signs from drivers.

Most of the teachers in Yakima and Sunnyside said they would support Gregoire's sales tax increase if it saved levy equalization, but they want legislators to look for other places to cut, too.

Peter Lund, a third-grade teacher at Pioneer Elementary School in Sunnyside, didn't have a specific idea of what the governor should cut instead of education.

"They know there are other options," he said. "They're just doing it because people will take it."

A few Yakima teachers mentioned closing corporate tax loopholes as a source of revenue, but faltered on the details.

"We have been such a poor community that we need that levy equalization to fund education," said Alexis Emerson, a first-grade teacher at Roosevelt whose young son was also holding a sign.

Fellow first-grade teacher Cathy Penning agreed that the funds are crucial.

"I've lived through a levy failure," she said, referring to the last time a district levy failed in February 1998, resulting in layoffs for 170 district employees and widespread program cuts, including all middle-school sports. "It was just terrible what it did to the kids."

Gregoire's 10 percent proposal would not be so dire, but would still impact students, teachers said.

Koepke says they plan to hold similar "informational picketing" events throughout the monthlong legislative session and the school year to get the cuts on the public's radar.

"Our local legislators need to get on board, too, and understand that this levy equalization cutting for a poverty area is going to be devastating -- absolutely devastating," she said.

Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, was in a Ways and Means House committee meeting Monday evening, but said over the phone that the governor's cuts are only proposals.

"I think (teachers) have reason to be concerned (about levy equalization), but ... we're a long way from the end," he said. "We're going to do the very best we can."

He said legislators need to determine if any tax breaks are ineffective or obsolete, and could perhaps delay some climate change initiative deadlines to save money.

"There's no single silver bullet," he said.

* Reporter Ross Courtney contributed to this report.

* Molly Rosbach can be reached at 509-577-7628 or mrosbach@yakimaherald.com.