<\/a>Thunder Mountain High School student Kaylani Topou speaks to a crowd at the Fund Our Future rally at the Alaska State Capitol on Saturday. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t
The event leaned heavily on student speakers, including McKenna. Fellow Crimson Bear Arias Hoyle, a senior, also spoke, as did Thunder Mountain High School student Kaylani Topou. As the high school students stood on the steps, younger students surrounded them and held up signs. Topout pointed to another sign, one that hung on two of the columns at the Capitol that depicted hands reaching upward.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“This is exactly what we’re doing,” Topou said. “We’re reaching for the governor, we’re reaching for everyone to give us the education that we need, and all we’re asking is that you take our hand and that we can walk to the future together.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
[‘Fund our future’: Students protest proposed cuts to university<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Dunleavy’s budget proposal calls for a reduction in funding of $300 million from school districts across the state, according to the Department of Education and Early Development. That includes a cut of $10 million to the Juneau School <\/a>District<\/a>. The House of Representatives’ budget proposal, passed this week, does not propose those deep cuts and even seeks to guarantee funding for the next fiscal year as well.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Speakers at Saturday’s rally — including education advocate and former U.S. Congressional candidate Alyse Galvin — were passionate as they spoke to the crowd, but none spoke with quite the energy of Rep. Grier Hopkins, D-Fairbanks. Hopkins was vehement about the importance of education in his life, going as far to name off the elementary school teachers he had to prove how he still thinks of them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t