SCHOOLS NEA president urges state to find money

Inadequate money for schools is a chief concern, a labor leader says.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The president of one of the nation's largest teachers unions borrows from a popular advertising phrase to sum up his advice to Ohio legislators on solving the state's school funding problem.
"Just do it," President Reg Weaver of the National Education Association said, echoing the Nike slogan during a visit Friday to Youngstown.
"I would tell them [legislators] I don't care where you find the money" to adequately fund schools, Weaver said. They must find it somewhere and direct it to public schools, Weaver insisted.
His visit to Youngstown is part of a multistate swing he's making before Tuesday's election. The NEA, which has about 2.7 million members, has endorsed presidential candidate John Kerry.
Weaver stopped at the Youngstown State University campus, where he met with area parents, students, teachers and school administrators to discuss education issues.
Many of those he meets at these affairs say public schools aren't being adequately funded, Weaver said.
The Ohio Supreme Court has declared several times that the state's school funding system, which relies heavily on local property taxes, is unconstitutional.
In response, the state has spent billions of dollars on primary and secondary schools -- much of it to help poorer districts.
Yet property taxes continue to be a large part of how public schools are funded in the state, and critics say that's wrong and doesn't adequately address the constitutionality issue.
It's up to legislators to grapple with this problem and fix it, Weaver said.
Act gets updated
Another issue Weaver is talking about on his tour is the No Child Left Behind Act, which is the name given the updated version of a federal law formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The new version, crafted by the Bush Administration, provides, among other things, penalties for districts that fail to address achievement gaps between groups of students, including whites and minorities.
Supporters say it will improve education and hold educators responsible for failing to meet standards.
"Nobody is afraid of accountability that makes sense," Weaver said.
The NEA, however, argues that No Child Left Behind contains flaws, one of them is that implementing it can be costly.
The law amounts to "an unfunded federal mandate that is costing Ohio taxpayers more than $1.4 billion annually," the NEA maintains.
As for Tuesday's presidential election, Weaver said he believes teachers will support Kerry in large numbers, though that's not surprising.
He added he's heartened, however, by the large numbers of school administrators and school board members who tell him they'll be voting for the Democratic candidate.