More than a thousand people are closely packed into Capitol Park across from the state Capitol today for what was billed as a rally in favor of public education, and is decidedly a rally against state schools Supt. Tom Luna's school reform plan. Periodically, the crowd broke out into chants of "Kill the bills, kill the bills." Longtime Boise School District trustee Rory Jones told the crowd, "This bill solves one problem and one problem only, and that is the lack of resolve to fund public schools."

A Timberline High School senior, Jonny Saunders, told the crowd, "Teachers don't like this bill, students don't like this bill. Who is this bill for? ... It's for the out-of-state education companies." The head of the Boise Education Association, Andrew Rath, was among those speaking; and Maria Greeley, a Boise mother of four and parent volunteer, acted as master of ceremonies. "It is just grass-roots efforts, just everybody putting word out to everybody else," said Greeley, the lead organizer of the Boise rally. Nine other rallies also are scheduled today around the state. Signs at the Boise rally included such slogans as, "My dog ate my laptop;" "Luna's plan: Cronies come first;" "Big classes equals dumb masses;" and "Luna's legacy, doing less with less."