by Naomi Ishisaka

Chanting “Say it loud, say it clear, equal education here,” students from Rainier Beach High School led a walkout on the first day of school.

Around 60 students from different schools including Rainier Beach rallied at the Rainier Beach Community Center on Wednesday to protest inequalities in education funding, inadequate school funding in general and disparities in educational access for Black and Latinx students.

Rainier Beach student Edgar Santos Perez said during the rally that in addition to school funding, class size is an issue.

“I [ran] into my old history teacher and she told me she had more than 30 students … which is illegal by the way, for all of her classes for her incoming freshmen. Do you find that fair? I feel like other schools have a better chance of education because they have a better chance of one-on-one.”