I’m in Chicago right now, for the 2nd annual Network for Public Education conference, but I left my heart in Minneapolis, at Roosevelt High School. 

Right now, students (estimated to be 175-200 of them) at Roosevelt are raising their voices and engaging in some good old-fashioned democracy in action, by walking out of school to protest what they say is a “lack of equity” in their school’s budget for next year. 

This is significant.

I interviewed many of the students and parents leading this protest last week, just before the April 14 Minneapolis school board meeting (where Roosevelt advocates were headed to voice their concerns), and one thing that stood out to me was pride.

Roosevelt students, parents, and staff care deeply about their school, and they’re ready to stand up and fight for it. 

The budget details are gnarly, but the students, many staff members, and Roosevelt parents contend that their school has been given an inadequate budget, just as the school is on an upward swing. 

Note: MPS was contacted for their perspective on Roosevelt’s budget issues on Friday, April 17 but they have not yet responded with an official statement.

Here are the main issues, according to a press release and information provided by Roosevelt parent Jeanette Bower, who is a member of Roosevelt’s site council:

• Without enough funds, Roosevelt will not be able to meet the needs of its DCD students (Developmental and Cognitive Delays) who need significant support. Right now, the program is understaffed, according to a Roosevelt teacher.
• Staff positions have been cut, and the school may lose its librarian.
• Roosevelt is short over $240,000 and won’t be able to adequately continue the Spanish Immersion program the district placed at the school in 2013.
• Roosevelt switched from a 6 period day to a 7 period one a few years ago, in order to more fully implement their IB model. They did this without financial help from MPS. Now, MPS has made 7 period days mandatory for all MPS high schools, and has provided funds for this, but not to Roosevelt. (MPS Interim Superintendent Michael Goar called this an “error” at the April 14 board meeting, but I have not heard yet how–or if–this error has been corrected.)
• Roosevelt is the only high school in Minneapolis without a theater program. (To be fair–well, actually, it’s not really fair–no high school in Minneapolis that I am aware of has a district-funded theater program. They might have a theater teacher, but that’s it. Everything else comes from parent/booster club support, partnerships, grants, or other outside sources, but Roosevelt does not have these, and some might say every kid should have access to a theater program–no matter what.)
• The school wants to offer a well-rounded, viable program to its students, with adequate arts and world language classes (currently, the Roosevelt population is 80% students of color and 76% qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch).

This is what the Roosevelt community is saying about their budget. What the “facts” are may be up for debate, but what the students are feeling and saying about Roosevelt is what has really caught my ear. 

Here are the voices of four students I interviewed on April 14, as they prepared to head to the school board meeting:

Lewis Martin, 9th grade

• Roosevelt High School is seen as a ghetto school, but we’ve changed. We’ve changed internally, but the district hasn’t changed.
• We’re losing our community liaisons, but that’s how we’ve changed the Roosevelt story. They would go out into the middle schools and talk about Roosevelt, so people would want to come here.
• We headed to the school board so they can see we do have a voice, and we’re not afraid to speak up.

Shahmar Dennis, 12th grade, president of the Roosevelt student body

• We’re a school on the rise, but we’re losing our theater program. We have no teacher, even though there will be a new auditorium at Roosevelt next year.
• Our music program will suffer with these budget cuts. We can’t buy new instruments, even though we’ll have our biggest class ever next fall (100 new students are expected in Roosevelt’s 2015 freshman class).
• Our students shouldn’t be punished for doing well.
• We’ve only received vague explanations for our budget and why its low. We got the lowest bump of all Minneapolis high schools, at 3%. We want to know why.
• I’m going to the University of Minnesota in the fall. I won’t be here next year, but I want to see Roosevelt growing, and doing well academically. I want to see it have a good theater program.

Maria Sanchez, 10th grade

• I want the school board to realize Roosevelt isn’t ghetto.
• Our percentage of graduates is increasing.
• It’s a nice community here, vs. the stereotypes and preconceived ideas about our school. 
• Roosevelt High School has a voice, and we’re not going to take whatever they (the district) say. 

Saira Rivera, 11th grade

• This is important to me because my school is my life. This school is going to get me places.
• It’s such a tight community here. High school has been the best for me, and we shouldn’t have to lose programs or have 45 students in a class. 

Roosevelt, rising, looks good–even all the way from a hotel room in Chicago.

From the media release for today’s walk out, provided by Jeanette Bower:

Students at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School have planned a peaceful walk-out of classes on Friday, April 24 at 2:10 p.m. to express frustrations over the Minneapolis Board of Education’s 2015-16 budget. In it, the school district allocated $11 million to Minneapolis high schools. At the high end, South High received 24 percent of the budget or $3 million and Roosevelt received the lowest at 3 percent or $324,136.