West Jordan » Hundreds of students from several Jordan district schools walked out of their classes Thursday morning to demonstrate at district headquarters over announced budget cuts that could slash teacher ranks, increase class sizes and impact extracurricular activities.

Braving brisk breezes, the students held signs that read, "Save Our Teachers" and "You cut teachers we cut class." Students said they feared the cuts would hurt their education and their futures.

Levi Leiataua, 14, a ninth-grader at Joel P. Jensen Middle School, held a sign that said "Take a Stand."

"I'm here because recent budget cuts could make it so they fire 500 teachers," he said. "I think my education is threatened. Without an education, you have no future."

District spokeswoman Melinda Colton said the cuts won't cost that many teacher jobs (the district previously announced 250 teachers could be laid off) and that the final decision on budget reductions has yet to be made.

But she applauded students for their passion.

"This is a hot issue," she said. "But what this emphasizes to us is how great our teachers are."

The walkout followed a decision by Utah lawmakers late Wednesday to kill a bill that would have required the Canyons School District to give Jordan up to $15 million to equalize funding Jordan lost when Canyons residents voted to form their own school district. District officials have said some of the anticipated budget cuts are a result of the acrimonious split, which took effect in July.

At his monthly news conference Thursday, Gov. Gary Herbert said the split "has not worked very well."

"I don't think they should have split," he said. "The unintended consequences have been unfortunate."

One of those consequences was the loss of a rich property tax base. Jordan raised property taxes by 20 percent this school year to help address a $20 million shortfall caused by the split. The district's elected board considered another tax increase to fill an even bigger budget hole anticipated for next year but abandoned that idea in the face of public opposition.

Earlier this month, the board announced it might cut 500 jobs, including 250 teachers, as well as trim special programs and increase class sizes. A final decision won't be made until the education budget is finalized when the legislative session ends on March 11.

Teachers and students packed a Jordan board meeting Tuesday night, pleading for teaching jobs to saved, and students threatened to rally outside their schools during parent-teacher conferences Wednesday.

That didn't happen, perhaps because of a snowstorm. But students turned out in force early Thursday. West Jordan High principal Paul Argyle confirmed that 300 to 400 students walked out, leaving the rest of the 1,700 member student body in class. Argyle said the walkout caused a bit of a stir but that things quickly returned to normal with classes running on schedule.

Bingham High principal Tom Hicks said he had heard rumors of a walkout, but most of his students appeared to be in class Thursday morning, with the usual number of absences.

Hicks said his students have visited Capitol Hill and attended school board meetings to support teachers. But students have been counseled that missing class time doesn't benefit anyone and they can make the biggest impact by protesting outside school hours.

"It's really good if kids are educated before they involve themselves politically," Hicks said.

District Superintendent Barry Newbold invited four of the protesters inside for a meeting. After about two hours, Brian Southwick, Amanda Bell, Eli Evans and Marty Behler emerged to give the crowd a rundown on what they learned.

They told protesters that the current plan to meet a $30 million shortfall was to reduce the number of nonteaching positions by 300 to save $17.5 million. The remaining $12.5 million would have to be made up through cutting teaching jobs, tax increases or other means, Southwick said.

Nonetheless, students said they feared that dozens or even hundreds of teachers would lose their jobs.

"If we cut teachers, we'll have bigger classes," said Kylie Christiansen, a sophomore at West Jordan High School. "There is no way we'll get a good education."

Some teachers have said that larger class sizes would force them to drop extracurricular activities, said Alissa Kitchen, a West Jordan High junior.

"It's scary. I'm in dance company and we wouldn't have a coach," she said. "That's what makes us come to school."

Students got wind of the demonstration through text messages, said Michael Coeto, a 17-year-old West Jordan High junior. "That was our bell. At exactly 8:30 a.m., everybody stood up and walked out of class."

The students will be marked with unexcused absences that will have to be made up, he said. For each class missed, students are required to pay $2.

"I felt like this was important enough to miss four classes," he said. "Most of our teachers supported us."

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