Lawmakers weren't shy about showing their faces at the Washington State Parent Teacher Association (PTA) rally on the north steps of the Capitol today.

Several heavy players in state education such as Rep. Skip Priest, R-Federal Way, and Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, formally addressed the crowd of several hundred parents, teachers and kids naming education as their top priority this session.

"When the PTA comes, it's a legislator magnet," State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina and chair of the House Finance committee, told the crowd. "When groups come that we don't like, we just stay inside."

Despite the chilly temperatures and patchy snowfall around the Northwest, Bill Williams, executive director of Washington State PTA, said this is the biggest turn-out the PTA has ever had at a Capitol rally in Washington.

"This is the best chance we'll have in a number of years to reform the finance structure of education, and that's where all this momentum is coming from," he said.

The five issues the PTA plans to tackle today while meeting with legislators include:

• Basic education funding
• Strengthening math and science curriculum and education
• Improvements to the Washington State Assessment System
• Support "phased-in" increased requirements for high school graduation
• Support rational approaches to teacher compensation

Gov. Chris Gregoire was scheduled to speak, but had to cancel because she is out sick for the day.

The most noticeably absent person in education was State Superintendent Randy Dorn, who was attending a function in Seattle, but had a spokesman, speak on his behalf.