DENVER — Teachers, school workers and their supporters rallied outside the state Capitol here April 27. Some 10,000 turned out to demand more funding for public schools, higher wages and to oppose efforts by legislators to cut their pensions. The action followed a rally of 2,500 the previous day.
“I am here to protest economic inequality. It has reached the tipping point,” Ryan Bauer, a sixth-grade science teacher, told the Militant. “We need an economy that serves everyone, not just the wealthy.”
One popular sign caught this sentiment, saying, “A teachers place is in the resistance.” It had a picture of Rosie the Riveter along with the symbol of the resistance movement against the empire from the Star Wars movies.
East High School teachers organized a feeder march from their school and were cheered when they arrived. Teachers from the Pueblo Education Association were a prominent contingent at the rally. They recently voted to strike over school funding and wages.
“We don’t live in a democracy,” Barbara Stein, who taught sociology before retiring, told the Militant. “The Democrats and Republicans don’t represent us.”