Nearly 30 teachers, staff, PTA members and students lined up at dawn Wednesday outside Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School in Vancouver to send a message to elected officials that public education needs their support. “This was not just a moment, it’s a movement,” said Charlotte Lartey, a teacher at Gaiser Middle School in Vancouver. Teachers in Clark County joined those at schools all over the country for the “walk-in” on the day when elected officials returned to their districts as Congress goes into recess. The event was organized by the National Education Association, a national labor union representing educators, students and school employees with chapters in every state. Educators also rallied at Hearthwood Elementary School in the Evergreen school district Wednesday morning before school.

Around 7 a.m., educators gathered in front of Roosevelt, 2921 Falk Road, wearing “Red for Ed” and holding red signs declaring “raise revenue, fund our schools.” “We are here because we are very concerned about the state of education, in particular, public education,” Anne Wiley, Roosevelt teacher and a Vancouver Education Association union leader, told the crowd. “We are here to bring attention to the problem and ask for our state Legislature to fund our education.”   In her 25 years teaching at Roosevelt and 30 years as an educator, Wiley said she’s never seen anything like the recent turmoil in education — first COVID-19, then funding cuts and now the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. “With public education under attack, we show up and we fight back,” said Joanne Shepard, Oregon Education Association union organizer and Vancouver resident.

Roosevelt is a Title I School, which means it receives federal funding due to the higher rate of poverty among its students. Wiley said the Trump administration is trying to cut funds for Title I programs, including free and reduced school lunches. Those funds also provide 90 percent of Roosevelt students with food for weekends and summer months. “If that program gets cut, our children will not have food at school unless teachers put their hand in their pocket and bring something from their own home,” Wiley told The Columbian. The school’s Family-Community Resource Center, which supports families and students with housing, food, school supplies, clothing and other resources, could also be hit by cuts.

“As the funding gets cut, it hits our low-income schools, predominantly because our families don’t have the resources to make up for it,” Wiley said. “And I don’t think the quality of education should depend on your ZIP code.” Lartey, one of the NEA’s Washington directors, asked the group to pull out their cellphones during the walk-in and send 3rd District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, a message to “let her know why she needs to step up in Congress and represent us.” The group did just that. Shepard said the group chose Roosevelt for the walk-in to send a message to local, state and federal elected officials because it is a Title I School and next door to Vancouver Public School’s district headquarters. As the clock hit 7:20 a.m., the group turned toward the school and walked in, signs held high, ready to start the school day. “We know that we’ll continue to show up every day and support our students,” Lartey said. “But we are also going to continue to fight to hold our representatives accountable for what our students deserve.”