Florida teachers are rallying at the Capitol. Is it a strike?

As Florida lawmakers prepare Monday for the looming start of the 2020 legislative session, thousands of teachers are expected to descend upon the Capitol with a call for improved support of public education.

The “Take on Tallahassee” rally, sponsored by the Florida Education Association, has generated plenty of enthusiasm among educators who say they’ve felt ignored and dismissed for too long. Many teachers from around the state planned to make the trek to the capital in buses early Monday morning. For Miami teachers, that long drive began Sunday night.

It also has raised a question among some observers: Shouldn’t those teachers be at work that day?

Florida law is crystal clear that organized work stoppages by public employees, such as teachers, for the purpose of trying to change their work conditions are not allowed. In other words: strikes.

Would busloads of classroom teachers headed to a protest, at the behest of the state’s largest employee union, meet that standard?

Local and state association officials made clear that while they want to send a message, their students’ education won’t be compromised.

Sharon Nesvig, spokeswoman for the Florida Education Association, said that the state teachers union’s lawyers determined that because the participating teachers have requested the time off, allowing time for districts to find substitutes, their rally is not a strike. Furthermore, it’s protected by the Florida Constitution’s guarantee of the right to peacefully assemble.

But over the weekend, outrage emerged over what appeared to be a threat by the Florida Department of Education to fire the hundreds of teachers from Polk County who planned to attend the rally.

After more than 1,600 teachers from Polk told the district they’d be out Monday — a number higher than even big, urban districts — teachers received an email from the department’s general counsel, Matthew Mears, that said “a concerted failure to report for duty constitutes an illegal strike under Florida law,” and that “a public employee violating the strike provision may be terminated.”

Billy Townsend, a Polk County School Board member, wrote on his blog that the email was an attempt by the department to “openly threaten with utter destruction the livelihoods and pensions of 1,600 ... vastly underpaid and over-stressed people.”

Even U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic candidate for president, amplified the issue on her Twitter, writing Sunday that “Florida teachers are rallying for fair pay and better funding for schools, and they won’t be intimidated or undermined. I stand with the teachers.”

By Sunday afternoon, both the department and Polk’s superintendent had made public statements trying to calm the storm. They both said that the email was sent in response to the district’s concerns, after their original estimate of about 600 teacher absences more than doubled at the last minute. They sought an opinion from the department about how to handle that, which resulted in the email from Mears, that was forwarded by the district to the teachers.

Taryn Fenske, spokeswoman for the department, said Sunday that the information was strictly an overview of law and in no way was a recommendation of any specific action. Districts employ teachers, Fenske added, and the department has no authority to fire them. The department did not send a similar letter to any other district.

“We are excited to have teachers come up to discuss” the issues important to them, Fenske added.

The preparations in South Florida went more smoothly.

At least 700 people — the majority of them classroom teachers and support professionals — planned to endure the overnight Sunday bus haul from Miami to the Capitol. In Broward, 500 supporters of public education, many of them teachers, were scheduled to board buses at 3:45 a.m at the BB&T center.

Stagnant teacher salaries and inadequate funding was enough to spur them to take a personal day Monday for the rally in Tallahassee. This year’s caravan from Miami-Dade grew from 15 to 17 buses. That amounts to about 3% of the district’s 19,200 teachers.

These teachers hail from across the nation’s fourth largest school district, but as many as 20 teachers come from one school, said United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats. She’s expecting large showings from Miami Beach Senior High, Miami Northwestern Senior High and Poinciana Park Elementary School.

“The district is well aware that we are going to be out en masse on Monday,” Hernandez-Mats said. “They’ve been very supportive because they understand this is a fight for public education, for students and for resources. They understand that this is their fight, too.”

Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokeswoman Jaquelyn Calzadilla said principals are closely monitoring potential teacher absences for Monday.

“The district is prepared to provide support if needed,” Calzadilla wrote in an email.

Hernandez-Mats said teachers made arrangements in advance with their schools to bring in substitute teachers. They expect to be back in the classroom Tuesday.

“We always figure out a way to help our colleagues out when people are out to make sure our children our supervised,” said Hernandez-Mats. “We never leave children hanging.”

This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Florida teachers are rallying at the Capitol. Is it a strike?."