OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Eight school districts in the Grays Harbor area canceled classes Wednesday so teachers, students and administrators could rally in Olympia against cuts in education.

Eleven buses traveled to Olympia for the late morning rally in front of the state Capitol, timed to coincide with Gov. Chris Gregoire's inauguration and State of the State speech, said Christyna Paris, president of the Aberdeen Education Association.

Paris, a chemistry teacher at Aberdeen High School, said plans for the rally had been in the works for about a year. The message the group of between 300 and 400 brought to Olympia changed slightly with time.

Originally, they were going to protest "unfunded mandates," where the state government tells school districts to do something, like make sure their students pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, but doesn't give them money to help make it happen.

Paris said the economic downturn and resulting state budget deficit added another item to the protest agenda: Asking for fairness in state budget cuts so they don't hurt small school districts more than large districts, which can make up more of their losses through property taxes.

"This is just going to hit us immensely harder now," she said.

After the rally, the teachers, students and parents planned to lobby their lawmakers. Administrators were scheduled to meet with Randy Dorn immediately after he was sworn in as the new state superintendent of public instruction.

Rich Wood, spokesman for the state teachers union, called the rally a grass-roots effort and said the Washington Education Association admired the local effort but wasn't involved in the planning. WEA President Mary Lindquist was scheduled to speak at the rally.



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AP-NY-01-14-09 1350EST