As Florida lawmakers toss terms such as "parent empowerment" and "teacher protection," the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association wants to refocus the debate.

The union plans to rally at two major Pinellas intersections -- N. McMullen-Booth Rd. at State Road 580 in Clearwater, and 38th Avenue North at 4th Street in St. Petersburg -- at 4 p.m. Thursday "calling on the Florida Legislature to end legislative trickery and get to the real business of funding education to Make Our Schools a Priority!"

"Florida's budget problems are the result of an unfair tax system riddled with special interest tax loopholes designed to ensure that the biggest corporations and the richest of the rich don't pay their fair share. All of these devastating changes to our public schools are the direct result of Rick Scott and Tallahassee politicians rewarding their political backers in a shameful “pay to play” scam that will devastate our public schools, in every Florida community, and cost taxpayers billions in exclusive special interest contracts."