New York parents, teachers, kids rally in D.C. for education spending

WASHINGTON - Three busloads of New York City parents, teachers and kids arrived on Capitol Hill Tuesday to plead for more education funding in President Obama's massive economic rescue plan.

"Once you let young teachers go, you don't get them back," said Dave Pecoraro, 49, a math teacher at Beach Channel High School in Queens.

Mayor Bloomberg has warned 15,000 teachers could be laid off without major infusions of state and federal money.

"I don't want to happen to my kids what happened to me," added Pecoraro, who saw teachers let go when he was a student during the city's 1970s financial crisis.

The city group, which bounced off the buses with the chant "Show Us the Money," urged Congress to restore more than $80 billion in school funding.

Chauncey Young, 33, who was carrying his daughter Isabelle, 6, on his shoulders, said he worried her dual-language class at Public School 75 in Manhattan would be cut while class sizes are increased. "The cuts would just have a devastating effect," he said. "We need more money for our schools."

Luz Minaya, 37, who teaches Spanish and technology at Intermediate School 528 in Brooklyn, said, "We might have to double up on class sizes." Congress needs "to know that they just can't cut. We need to reduce class sizes," added Minaya, whose group, organized by the United Federation of Teachers, later met with local lawmakers.rsisk@nydailynews.com source>>>

Read More