Rally at Ohio Statehouse protests education funding cuts
The planned demonstration was just one of many May Day protests across the country.
Despite heavy rain at times, hundreds came out holding signs and marching around Capitol Square. The protest was organized by local chapters of the Ohio Education Association.
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The sounds of chanting and horns honking could be heard for hours outside the statehouse as protesters stood along South High Street holding signs reading, 'Fighting for Public Education.'
'We're out here protesting the constant defunding of public education and all public services,' Kelsey Gray, an English teacher and member of the Columbus Education Association, said.
Gray said that since Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine introduced his version of the state budget, educators believe that the spending plan would cut money from public schools across the state.
'The people working in the schools and the students and families that are part of the public schools know what's best and we need politicians to start making decisions for us because they're never made for the people,' she said. 'They're always made for the 1%, the billionaires, the upper class.'
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Gray said the organization is also calling for the Fair School Funding Plan, an Ohio bill that aims to make school funding more equitable, to be put into action.
Other educators at the protest said it's important for teachers to speak out because they feel the whole education system is under attack.
'We teach kids who are immigrant students, we have LGBTQ students, we've got kids that feel like they're not welcome in our classrooms, and we can't have it,' educator Jen Pfeiffer-Ward said.
'We're here because we feel like education is going the wrong way and it has to stop, it has to stop,' educator Sarah Nottingham said. 'It can't be about an agenda, it can't be about a party, it needs to be about kids. Period.'
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President Donald Trump has called the U.S. Department of Education wasteful and feels it's polluted by liberal ideology that is being taught in schools. Many of the demonstrators at the Statehouse on Thursday said that power should be in the hands of the educators, not the lawmakers.
'I love those kids,' Pfeiffer-Ward said. 'I'm going to teach those kids.'
The protesters said they will continue to fight until their voices are heard.
Columbus police estimate 1,500 people turned out for the demonstration.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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