PORT ST. LUCIE — Port St. Lucie football coach Doug Kerr will not return for the 2009 season.

Principal Terry Davis informed Kerr he would not be re-appointed Tuesday evening and told the team of the decision Wednesday after school. Kerr was preparing for his fifth season, as spring football is set to begin Friday. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Organizing by unions and school district staff paid off handsomely Saturday, when thousands of teachers, students and families turned out for a rally and march to warn Florida lawmakers away from funding cuts to education when they write next year’s lean budget this spring.

“Thou shalt not spend more money on prisons than on public schools,” intoned Vanessa Tillman, president of the Classroom Teachers Association/Classified Unit. The union represents about half of the school district’s 5,000 employees.

“Educate, so we don’t have to incarcerate,” said Tillman, drawing loud cheers from a crowd estimated at 3,200 in the parking lot of School District offices on Okeechobee Road in Fort Pierce.

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FORT PIERCE — St. Lucie County educators are holding a rally and march at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 31 to protest cuts to the state’s education budget.

St. Lucie County Schools have about $20 million less in revenue for the 2008/09 school year, and are estimated to lose another $30 million in the 2009/10 school year, according to school officials.

School officials, anticipating dire budget constraints, cut $15 million from the 2008/09 budget, moved about $11 million in maintenance costs from the operating fund to the capital fund, and either moved or left vacant about 105 positions throughout the district.

People who would like to participate in the rally and march should meet at the school board offices at 4204 Okeechobee Road.