TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Before the first bell rang at Pueblo High School on Tucson's south side Wednesday morning, teachers and teacher allies performed a "walk-in" to protest cuts to the Department of Education.
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Wednesday morning's “walk-in” was a form of protest. Rather than having it during school hours, they spotlighted the issue before class to avoid any interruptions to students. It was part of a national event organized by the National Education Association.
They’re protesting funding cuts to the DOE that could affect things like special education and supplemental services like speech therapy.
“These funding cuts are really going to affect schools like us first," said Cristobal Barajas, an English teacher at Pueblo. "It's going to be the low-income schools; the schools that have a large Hispanic or non-English speaking population; schools that have a lot of support for special education."
Barajas is part of the Pueblo Education Association, the group that organized the event for their respective school.
“Letting them know what the issues are and why we're upset is the first step," Barajas said. "Because they got to know that these cuts are coming before they affect them.”
Barajas said Pueblo receives federal funding and having that taken away would affect social workers, teacher certification, and English language development. He says they can inform parents about how this can affect their children by doing this before school.
“They’re busy," Barajas said. "They may not necessarily realize that these cuts are happening or how they're going to affect their families; how they’re going to affect their kids. This is our way of sort of providing this outreach and having this attention to the issues before there's any interruption to services.”
Barajas tells me teachers are committed to pushing back against funding cuts, to ensure students get the best educations possible.
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Jacqueline Aguilar is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born and raised in Yuma, AZ., she is no stranger to the unforgiving Arizona heat. Now this U of A wildcat is excited to be back in Tucson and is looking forward to involving herself in the community. Share your story ideas with Jacqueline by emailing jacqueline.aguilar@kgun9.com or connecting on Facebook, Instagram or X.
