Nine Redwood City Schools Tell Sacramento Not to Blow It

Note: A video of Thursday's protests will be available on Patch Friday morning.

To urge state legislators to pass a budget that fully funds public education as thousands of teachers are bracing for layoff notices, teachers, students, parents and supporters will gather outside of Bay Area schools and blow bubbles this morning.

Seven schools in the hosted the bubble-blowing protests, while two more schools-- and Selby Lane-- will hold their protests this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. 

"Don't Blow It!" the education supporters are telling state lawmakers, who are expected to make further cuts to education with the forthcoming budget and will announce teacher layoffs today.

The protesters met at dozens of schools throughout the Bay Area before students are dropped off and, while some will be protesting silently and others will be boisterous, they all intend to blow bubbles.

Gray weather didn't stop parents and Educate Our State co-founder Susie Peyton from hosting rallies. Educate Our State is a parent-led, statewide campaign to support K-12 public education. 

“The current education budget heavily relies on initiatives on the November ballot even though schools need to pass their budgets in May," said Peyton. "Even if we pass these taxes, it'll only bring us up to levels pre-funding cuts, not increase our revenue."

Other protests, all planned by "Educate Our State," are planned at schools throughout the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Oakland, Atherton, Burlingame, Half Moon Bay, Lafayette, Mill Valley, Piedmont, San Anselmo and San Mateo.

A full list of events can be found at www.thisbudgetblows.org.

The education budget has been cut statewide every year for the last four years, and while a tax initiative on the November ballot supported by Gov. Jerry Brown may help mitigate the cuts, it won't come before districts statewide are expected to have to shrink their budgets once again.

Today, March 15, is the deadline for districts to alert employees to possible layoffs, and thousands of teachers statewide are expected to get layoff notices today as the districts begin preparing their budgets.

Depending on how much funding is promised by the state, not all the employees that receive notices may lose their jobs, but without a state budget being passed, districts must prepare for funding shortfalls and alert staff to potential layoffs.

--Bay City News, Stacie Chan contributed to this article

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