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Hundreds Gather At Boston City Hall For Public Education Rally

BOSTON (CBS) -- Hundreds of students and teachers gathered in front of Boston City Hall to protest education cuts and promote support of public education Wednesday.

Among the protesters was Susan Harkness, who works at Charlestown's Edwards Middle School--where they've recently cut three positions.

"We have extremely high English language learner needs, and we have extremely high special ed needs," said Harkness. "It's really disappointing to see three literacy-based teachers get cut."

Taya Hopkins, a junior at Boston Latin Academy, chose to spend this chilly morning during her school vacation week rallying with protesters.

"If they can give $150 million to one corporation, I don't understand why they can't support us," said Hopkins.

Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson came out to greet the protesters. He said he supports them, and is concerned about a budget that can't keep up with inflation.

"This is the oldest public education system in the United States of America," said Jackson. "It deserves to be supported, and the young people, the 57,000 beautiful pieces of our future, deserve to be invested in."

Jackson is very concerned about one of the main points the protesters brought up--charter schools. He sees a great inequity in the distribution of funding.

"$104 million went to 8,100 charter school students, and $107 million is being split by 57,000 Boston Public Schools students," said Jackson.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports

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