"On Tuesday, April 9, an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 students from at least a dozen public high schools in Newark, New Jersey, walked out of class to protest years of budget cuts, school closings and teacher layoffs by Governor Chris Christie. They marched to Rutgers Law School, where they demonstrated for hours in front of a State Assembly budget hearing on education.
The walkout was organized by the Newark Students Union (NSU) in response to a $56 million budget cut proposed by state-appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson. Rather than embrace student civic engagement, some schools reportedly responded with threats, intimidation and punishment to keep students from participating in constitutionally protected speech."
