Today hundreds of students from Alameda's two high schools walked out of class in order to protest against the $2.56 million in budget cuts approved Tuesday night by the school board.

The students from Encinal High School and Alameda High School walked out of class and protested outside the district offices at 2200 Central Avenue.

For 15 minutes the students rallied outside until Superintendent Ardella Dailey came out and invited them for a discussion into an auditorium.

Tuesday night Alameda Unified School District trustees voted 4-to-1 to cut the $83.7 million budget. They chose to eliminate music programs from kindergarten to third grades, increase the number of students from the ninth grade from 20 to 29 per teacher and cut $200,000 from sports programs, according to Trustee Bill Schaff.

This move was made due to the fact that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked for a 10 percent cut in the state services in order to reduce a state budget deficit.

Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman with the governor's office, said that the cuts show "why we need budget reform that provides reliable...funding for the schools,” San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“If we were to fully fund education next year, it would take billions of dollars from other areas like heath care, parks and prisons,” she added.

According to Alameda High School English teacher Lisa Piazza, half of her students walked out today.

She said that she can’t imagine teaching to 30 students in a ninth grade class.

Piazza said: "When the class sizes are smaller, you can kind of group them by ability or teach to the middle. But when there are so many of them at so many different levels, it would be hard. The kids start off lost and they never get found."

Schaff said that there is hope to restore the funding as a $4 million parcel tax was put on the June 2008 ballot.