With Only A Month Until Their Contract Expires, Philadelphia Teachers Stage Rally
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- With a month to go before their contract expires, Philadelphia teachers staged the first of a series of rallies against the school district's budget cuts on Tuesday.
"We are committed to public education!"
Teachers and parents gathered on the steps of de Burgos Elementary School at 4th and Lehigh to decry school budget cuts and demand more funding.
"I think about the future. How are they going to be? How's the school going to be? So we need help," worries parent volunteer Nelson Santiago.
The district is banking on more than $100 million in labor concessions as it negotiates a new contract with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. But de Burgos third grade teacher Hillary Linardopoulos says teachers have given enough.
"We have been giving time and resources and energy and money, money, money. So to me, I don't really see how we can continue to try to balance the budget on the backs of our teachers," Linardopoulos explains.
The union plans a series of school rallies ahead of the August 31 contract deadline.
