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Teachers in Brownsville are sending a petition to Texas Gov. Rick Perry asking them to stop the education cuts and standardized tests.

Members of the Association of Brownsville Educators have gathered over 2,000 signatures protesting Texas state budget cuts to education.

Educators told Action 4 news that teacher to student ratio is not being followed.

They also said individual student needs are not being met and that state standards are unrealistic.

The teachers group said that lawmakers don’t take challenges like poverty and Spanish-speaking students into consideration.

Association of Brownsville Educators President Patrick Hammes spoke to Action 4 News about the petition.

"We spend too much time benchmarking and too much time with emphasis on the state testing instead of letting teachers teach,” Hammes said. “Teachers want to teach. So give us the time to do that also you need standards that are appropriate you need to fund education and then develop accountability system not develop an accountability system and not fund public education.”

According to Hammes, rates of students not passing standardized tests has quadrupled in the Lone Star State.

Hammes said if the cuts continue it could lead to the privatization of public education.