A solid wall of signs form on either side of the street. Determination is in each one of these teacher’s minds, and thoughts of their classes, their students, are in their hearts. Today, their voices will be heard.

This morning, members of the Wenatchee Education Association (WenEA) gathered en masse to protest the state legislature’s failure to fully fund education.

“The Supreme Court has been denied,” Wenatchee High School French teacher Jon Magnus said. “The legislation had an 11 percent pay increase while teachers haven’t had a cost of living adjustments for six years.”

Teacher salaries aren’t the only issues at stake, however. Other factors the teachers are protesting include “smaller class sizes,” and “better funding for books, buses, technology and current curriculum,” according to Foothills Middle School English teacher Aaron Hansen.

“I believe that kids deserve better,” Hansen said. “I believe that the lawmakers need to live up to their constitutional duties. I believe the lawmakers need to honor the will of the voters. There’s a social contract between the people and the government. The people trust the government to act on their behalf. When they stop acting on their behalf, it’s the responsibility of the people to stand up to them.”

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The teachers met at their respective schools at 7 a.m. to arrange carpools and check in. Then, they took to the streets, signs in hand.

“We are trying to send a message to the legislature that their failure to fully fund education will not go unnoticed by the community,” WenEA President Kris Cameron said. “We are out here supporting the community to respond to them supporting our schools, and we just want to make sure they know the legislature is still not it’s job to fully fund education.”

Cameron hopes the event will raise awareness and inspire the community to contact the legislature to force them to fulfill both the requests of the voters and the Supreme Court.

“We have passed two voter initiatives to reduce class sizes in Washington state and the legislature took the first one off the books is 2012. So, we came back again, and voters, again, approved a class reduction initiative. Now the legislature is threatening to send that back partially funded through third grade. Every student in every school district in Washington state deserves to have smaller class sizes so that they can have a better learning experience,” Cameron said.

This is the first time the teachers have walked out in the WSD to protest legislation.

“This is historic, which I hope the community recognizes,” Cameron said. “We have a five-alarm fire in public education right now… Pay is a factor but it’s a minor factor. What’s really got teachers out on the street and gotten them upset is the fact that for the second time, voters have approved a class size reduction initiative and the legislature is planning to ignore it once again.”

“We don’t ever have walkouts,” Magnus said. “When we do, it shows how serious we are about an issue. And we are very serious about these issues.”

The event has received criticism for causing inconveniences for parents and adjusting the schedule to include an additional school day at the end of the year to accommodate the day of school missed.

“If it’s a call to action and gets a result, then [the walkout] is absolutely worth it,” John Newberry teacher/librarian Amy Ferrell said. “This is the only way for us to have our voices heard.”

The teachers will hold a rally from noon to 2 this afternoon, where several speakers will be talking about issues including class sizes and testing. They will be joined by Eastmont teachers for the event.

“[The legislation] just wants double math, double English, and double science. That’s not learning,” WHS Mariachi Director Ramon Rivera said. “Education should be more than that and we believe we can make a difference.”