South Florida students ‘Rally in Tally’ for school funds

BY PATRICIA MAZZEI AND KATHLEEN McGRORY, Miami Herald

They're bringing petitions, pickets and poster board -- and, of course, pillows, video games and DVDs.

After all, it's a nine-hour bus ride to Tallahassee.

Late Tuesday, hundreds of students from South Florida will be boarding 10 buses bound for the ``Rally in Tally.''

When they arrive at 6 a.m. Wednesday, they'll begin meeting with state lawmakers and education officials. Then they'll join students, parents and teachers from across the state on the steps of the Capitol to protest cuts to education.

''It's definitely important that students go up there and make their voices heard,'' said Alexandra Kramer, a senior at Miami Lakes Educational Center who organized one of the red-eye bus trips. ``Our legislators need to know how the cuts are affecting us.''

Over the past two years, Florida has slashed its budget for education. The Miami-Dade school district has absorbed more than $300 million in cuts this year alone. Broward has had to cut its budget by more than $150 million.

Alexandra, 17, had noticed the impact of cuts at her school: The yearbook budget shrank. Teachers made fewer photocopies to save money. The number of electives dwindled.

'I kept thinking, `It's bad this year and it's going to be worse next year,' '' she said. After her mother told her about the upcoming ''Rally in Tally,'' Alexandra got a coach bus donated and opened it up to students at neighboring schools.

''The Student Express'' -- the only all-student bus from South Florida making the trip -- includes teens from Miami Lakes Educational Center, Hialeah-Miami Lakes High and Barbara Goleman High.

Interest was so high at Goleman that administrators ran an essay contest to determine which students would attend.

The teens aboard the Student Express will also be vlogging -- that's video blogging -- throughout the trip, Alexandra said. They hope to turn the clips into a video documentary.

''This is going to be an amazing experience,'' Alexandra said. ``We're going to make a difference.''

More than 1,000 students, parents and teachers statewide are expected to attend Wednesday's rally, which is being organized by the Florida PTA.

Nearly half of those attending will be from Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Four buses teeming with 220 Broward students and parents will leave from Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale late Tuesday in a caravan organizers have dubbed the ``Midnight Madness Bus Rally to Tally.''

Aboard the buses will be Broward Superintendent Jim Notter, along with at least four School Board members: Chairwoman Maureen Dinnen, Robin Bartleman, Beverly Gallagher and Jennifer Gottlieb.

The group will stage a mini-rally at the stadium before heading north, said Shelly Heller, a Parkland mother who chaired a rally of Broward PTAs last month to build up momentum for the Tallahassee effort.

In Miami-Dade, six buses will be making the trip. In addition to the Student Express, groups will depart from Coral Reef, John A. Ferguson, Dr. Michael M. Krop, Coral Park and Ronald W. Reagan/Doral high schools.

Parents organizing bus trips from Miami-Dade met Sunday at a Kendall Starbucks to coordinate their plans, which include a student breakfast with Miami-Dade Superintendent Alberto Carvalho in the Capitol cafeteria Wednesday morning.

Visits with legislators are also in the works.

Alexandra and her friends say they are looking forward to the all-night bus ride. They'll ''freshen up'' at a rest station about 5 a.m. before their breakfast with Carvalho.

''The rumor is that Charlie Crist might even be there,'' Alexandra said. ``That'd be really cool.''