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The state legislature continues to cut the budget during this year's session and important money to fund education could be in jeporady. Educators from across the state held a rally in Tallahassee today pleading lawmakers not to cut education money. Chairman for the Citizens for Strong Schools program Mark McGriff spoke earlier this afternoon at the event and says teachers were well in attendance. He also said teachers and state employees will be affected if the budget is passed. Florida Education Association spokesperson Mark Pudlow says if the proposed act is passed educators will get paid solely based on student performance. Pudlow says in addition to facing education budget cuts, the Deferred Retirement Option Program commonly known as DROP will face changes. This would mean workers would have to put in extra time before retiring as the retirement age would rise to 62 from 65. Should workers go into the DROP program they would have to after 33 years of working, up from the current years of 30. Also, pensions would be averaged from the highest five years of service to an average of total career service. The proposed bill is scheduled to be voted on in the House Governmental Affairs Policy Committee sometime next week. Changes could take effect as soon as July first of next year.