High school students in Fairbanks, Alaska, shouted from street corners to protest bigger class sizes. Parents in Denver braved frigid wind chills to rally against cuts to a voter-approved school fund.

Buses for a demonstration in Frankfort, Ky., had interstate traffic backed up for two miles.

Public schools typically eat up more cash than any other state service. So as states face their worst financial conditions in decades, many have planned school cuts broad and deep, from firing teachers to requiring cheerleaders to pay if they want a squad.

The public outcry is growing louder.

Since January, hundreds to thousands have protested in Arkansas and California, Maryland and New Jersey, Texas and at least 15 other states. The crowds in Frankfort and in Oklahoma City topped 20,000. New Yorkers hope a May 3 event will draw 30,000 in support of public schools.

“The scale of the protests is as large and as extensive as we’ve seen since the ’82-’83 recession,” said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools. “And now, schools are more reliant on the states. So when the states cut back, the impact on local school districts is more severe than anything we’ve ever seen.”

In Washington state, 25,000 people rallied in Olympia to tell state leaders not to touch education dollars as they close a $2.6 billion budget gap.

“People were not there to whine or complain,” said Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Assn., which organized the event. “We were there with a sense of resolve and purpose. We’re very serious about this.”

In perspective, school programs generally fare better than others in tight times. But legislators say education spending is too great to go unscathed.

Unlike the federal government, almost every state must balance its budget. Combined, states face a gap of roughly $80 billion for the budget year starting July 1.

They are targeting preschool and after-school programs, hot breakfasts and bathroom cleaning, textbooks and transportation. Schools have shortened their week just as academic expectations are rising. Nursing, sports, languages and field trips have become expendable.

“It’s getting down to the classroom level. That’s why you’re seeing more protests,” said Steve Smith, a school finance specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Kerry Crist, a school board member in Columbia, Mo., said some smaller districts may have to close schools. “It’s that radical,” said Crist, who joined an April 9 rally in Jefferson City, where lawmakers may cut up to $300 million in school costs from a $19 billion budget.

“We asked them to raise money, but too many of them were elected saying ‘Absolutely no new taxes,'” Crist said. “We’re really nervous.”

Casserly, the urban schools advocate, said protests remind leaders which issues will drive people to the streets. But gauging the effect of mass action is tough, he said.

“It’s hard to imagine legislators going into session saying, ‘We’ve got crowds at the barricades. We better put these items back in the budget,'” Casserly said. “It happens much more subtly than that. But it’s still constructive.”

Protests can be more powerful than briefings from lobbyists, said Republican Ken Pruitt, chairman of the Appropriations Committee in the Florida Senate. His state, in the midst of a budget standoff, has not seen much protest, but that will change if education cuts run deep, Pruitt said.

“Wait until we have to start cutting football,” he said. “That’ll bring them out.”