The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Parents, teachers and children rally for public education at schools across the nation

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February 17, 2016 at 10:57 a.m. EST

Parents, teachers, children and community members rallied in support of public education at schools across the country Wednesday morning, many of them calling for more funding and less testing.

Thousands of people were expected to participate in the “walk-ins” at more than 800 schools in 30 cities, according to the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, which organized the event. The organization is a coalition of groups including the nation’s two largest teachers unions.

The walk-ins became venues for many different messages including de-emphasizing standardized tests, slowing down charter school growth and ending state takeovers of local school systems, as well as building more community schools, which offer a host of social, emotional and physical health supports.

Many students and parents showed up with signs declaring appreciation for their local schools and the educators who work in them.

Walk-ins were expected at more than 100 schools in Chicago, where many schools’ budgets are being cut mid-year:

In Austin:

In Los Angeles:

Boston schools are on vacation this week, but activists gathered anyway on the steps of City Hall to protest millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts, according to Boston.com:

In Pittsburgh:

In Philadelphia: