RADFORD (WSLS 10) - Teachers, superintendents, parents, and school board members from across the New River Valley took to the street Saturday in Radford to protest what they call a "gap" in school funding.
The march was organized by the Virginia Education Association to call on lawmakers to increase funding for schools across Southwest Virginia.
Many of the teachers say they are making hard decisions on a daily basis that they don't feel like they need to be making such as educators dipping into their own pockets for students and schools struggling to pay the heating bill.
The Virginia Education Association says it is a result of money not going where it is needed.
Protesters said that gap is a growing difference in funding for schools across the state.
That funding is determined by school enrollment and in Pulaski County, it went down by about 100 students last year.
"We're getting less funding, and so that's hurting the kids who are still there, because you still have to pay those teachers, you still have to run those buses, you still have to heat those schools," said Pulaski County School Board Member Paige Cash.
Cash said each student that leaves the school system takes $7,000 in state funding with them.
"People think that taking seven thousand dollars away from the school system doesn't hurt, but when you multiply that times 100 kids who leave during a school year, that's teaching positions, that's infrastructure, that's supplies," said Cash.
Supplies that teachers said they have begun providing, often out of their own pockets.
"It's not uncommon for teachers to keep paper, notebooks, all materials for class, we always have those readily available for our kids. We provide clothing for our kids, we provide backpacks," said teacher Alison Justus.
In Fairfax County in Northern Virginia, we found that teachers with a Bachelors Degree start at a salary that is $13 thousand higher and with a Masters Degree it is about $14 thousand higher a year.
"You can't tell me that a teacher in Southwest Virginia is less than a teacher in Northern Virginia. They should be equitable, they should be paid what they're worth," said Dr. James Fedderman, with the Virginia Education Association.
Part of that gap in pay does come as a result of differences in higher cost of living and a higher student population in Fairfax County, but teacher Amanda Dishon says the low funding in Pulaski is affecting the whole community.
"At some of these poorer schools, you have parents that are being asked to provide funds out of their own pocket, over and over and over again, and in poorer regions, they can't afford it, and the teachers can't afford it, so we end up having a lot less experiences for a lot of our kids," said Dishon.
Cash said she hopes the march will help legislators understand how desperate the situation is becoming.
"How are we ever going to get the economy fixed again down here in Southwest Virginia without education, without funding our schools," said Cash.
This was the first time school systems across the New River Valley have come together for a protest of this kind.
They hope it sends a strong message to the General Assembly as it begins to develop the next state budget.