Teachers from around the nation hope to give the Obama administration a lesson in shoe-leather lobbying this weekend.

Thousands are expected to hike to the White House on Saturday afternoon as part of Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action. They want public schools to have more say in national education policies and legislation, and they hope to dissuade further funding cuts in education.

Terry Springer, an English teacher at Northrop High School, will travel to Washington with her husband, three adult daughters and three other educators.

“We want to preserve public education and fight for students,” Springer said about the SOS March. She complained that education “has become a game based on numbers and statistics.”

Demonstrators are certain to voice opposition to two federal education programs – No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top – that stress standardized tests for students.

“We’ve become a nation focused on passing a test,” Springer said, adding that spending instructional time preparing for such tests “is not a good education.”

Karol Dehr, an IPFW writing instructor who will accompany Springer, said in an email that teachers “are frustrated with … the legislative bureaucracy that perpetuates the myth that all teachers are ineffective and worthless.”

Teachers will gather at noon in the Eclipse, a park near the White House, to hear speeches by education activists Diane Ravitch, Jonathan Kozol, Deborah Meier and others. Celebrity backers include actors Matt Damon and Richard Dreyfuss.

Teachers and supporters are scheduled to march to the White House at 1:30 p.m., read a list of demands and “engage in a call for continued action to reclaim schools as places of learning, joy and democracy,” according to the Save Our Schools website. The rally is part of a four-day conference and congress at American University that began Thursday.

Reduced funding for education at federal and state levels is among the participants’ worries.

“It has been the mantra of the current state administration and other states that you put children first, but they keep cutting funding for education,” Springer said. “You can’t say you want to be a literate nation and cut literacy funding. It’s mostly cutting, cutting, cutting.”

SOS March organizers said at least five other teachers from the Fort Wayne area intend to take part in the rally.

The event has been endorsed by Brandeis, Columbia and Hofstra universities and numerous education associations and unions.

bfrancisco@jg.net