PRESS RELEASE May 8, 1997.

Prime Minister Mart Siimannmeets with
Tallinn Teachers representatives.

Prime Minister Mart Siimann met thisevening with Maila Võrno, Dagmar Teeäär, KristaKäen, and Hugo Tarlan, members of the strike committee ofTallinn Teachers. Mait Klaassen, the Minister of Education, attendedthe meeting. Mart Siimann asked the teachers to join him in anopen exchange ofviews, informing them of the government'splans and possibilities for solving the problems raised by theteachers.
The Prime Minister admitted that mistakes in fundinghad been made by both the central government and local governments.The governmental leader asked the teachers not to strike, butto seek solutions to the problems together with the government.The present government has been in power hardly two months and,in principle, accepts the teachers' demands. But the means forquick solutions are lacking.

Mart Siimann discussed with the teachersthe preparation process for next year's national budget. Althoughnext year not all hopes of teachers will be met, the increasein allocation for education will certainly exceed the averageincrease. And at least one complaint of the teachers, insufficiencyof funding for continuing education, should be met by next year'sbudget, because the government has already decided to allocateadditional three percent toward that end.

The schools' entrusted personnel, officialsfrom the ministries and city educational leaders will meet tomorrowat 4 p.m., in the presence of a government mediator. The mandatoryagreement reached at the meeting should give hope that the schoolyear will end in Tallinn without a strike. However, the strikecommittee maintains that the threat of strike will remain oneof the teachers' options until fall. By that time, a satisfactorysolution to school financing will have to be found for the teachers.