Nearly 600 Kent School District teachers took to the streets Monday afternoon asking the Legislature to fully fund education.

Teachers gathered at six locations throughout the district after school to wave signs and bring attention to the lack of funding, as well as the need to reduce class sizes and provide sufficient pay for educators.

In front of Kent-Meridian High School close to 50 teachers, many wearing red for public ed, stood along southeast 256th Street shortly after school let out for the day, despite temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s.

Penny Ackerson, a second-grade teacher at Daniel Elementary, has taught in the district for 40 years.

“I want to see schools adequately funded,” she said. “Schools and kids are really suffering.”

Funding is essential to retain teachers and to provide proper training for new teachers, she said.

The Legislature needs to listen to taxpayers and provide proper funding for schools, Ackerson said.

“I think the taxpayers of Kent and of Washington have made it clear how they feel about education,” she said

Ricardo Valencia-Alvarez, a Kent-Meridian freshman, joined his teachers to wave a sign.

“I love my teachers,” he said. “They prepare us for our future. It is not fair for them not to be getting the amount of money they should.”

Valencia-Alvarez heard about the teachers’ concerns on the news and in discussions in his history class.

“Now I hear they’re actually standing up for it,” he said. “I want to be a part of it.”

Kent School Board member Maya Vengadasalam was at Kent-Meridian to support the teachers.

Other board members participated at other locations throughout the district. In addition to Kent-Meridian, teachers were at Cedar Heights Middle School, Mill Creek Middle School and several intersections in Kent, Covington and Fairwood.

Vengadasalam said the lack of funding directly impacts the board as it tries to set a budget for the upcoming school year.

“We are in the middle of budgets,” she said. “We have a lot of decisions to make. There is a sense of urgency.”

She said it is crucial for the state to fund education.

“We can’t simply rely on levies, local funding,” she said. “The state needs to come through and meet its obligation.”

More than 60 districts throughout the state have participated in one-day walkouts to send a message to legislators.

The Kent Education Association (KEA) considered a walkout, but members opted instead to picket after school so it would not impact families and students or extend the school year. The KEA represents more than 1,950 educators.

“We have a teacher’s association that really thinks about kids and families,” Vengadasalam said.

Teachers in Auburn and Renton also chose to have similar after-school activities.

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PHOTO BELOW:

Ann O’Keefe, 7, waves a sign on Monday afternoon near Kent-Meridian High School. She is a student at Meadow Ridge Elementary School, where her mother, Tami O’Keefe, teaches first grade. HEIDI SANDERS, Kent Reporter