ORLANDO, Fla. — Teachers from several Florida counties rallied in Orlando Saturday to keep the call for better school funding alive.

Hundreds of teachers from Orange County to Polk and Hillsborough counties turned out to rally at Lake Eola Park Saturday afternoon.

Teachers say they cannot set students up for success if schools aren’t funded enough to give them the tools to get ahead.

“We’ve seen Tallahassee take a wrecking ball to public education over the last couple decades. And we just want to stop that pattern and make sure that we have funding,” said Wendy Doromal, Orange County Classroom Teachers Association president.

They also want a reduction in standardized testing that teachers say is taking away needed instructional time in the classroom and costing schools money for what many feel is little return.

But with teacher pay in Florida among the worst in the nation, many say salaries need to be at the forefront of what they’re calling for here in Orlando and around the state.

“Everyone who works in public schools should have a salary they can live on. We shouldn’t have teachers working two jobs, teachers who can’t afford a car and have to ride a bicycle to work, teachers who have to live with their parents or with friends and pool money to make ends meet,” said Wendy Doromal, Orange County CTA president.

Saturday’s rally in downtown Orlando came more than one month after the massive rally in Tallahassee that drew in thousands of educators from around the state. Teachers are hoping to build on that momentum.

“We need to make the governor and legislators understand that we are not done. The problem is not solved. And one event isn’t going to solve it and so we will keep speaking, we will keep fighting until our students have more funding, our teachers have more funding, and people start to understand that the foundation they are depending on is cracking underneath them. We need to fix the problem,” said Matthew Panzo, Freedom High School teacher.

Gov.Ron DeSantis proposed plan would raise starting salaries for first year teachers, though critics argue it doesn’t do enough to help educators who are currently teaching.

House lawmakers on Thursday passed an education budget proposal that includes raising those starting salaries for teachers to more than $46,000. The Senate has passed a similar measure. Both plans would need to be reconciled before anything concrete moves forward.

Meanwhile, DeSantis also unveiled a new plan last month to replace the current statewide testing system that promises fewer tests.