Stamford educators and families are urging city lawmakers to spare the school system from cuts proposed to make up for losses caused by COVID-19.

Students, parents and educators held a drive-by protest at the Stamford Government Center Thursday. The protestors spoke out against a Board of Finance proposal that would cut up to $64 million dollars from the school budget. They say this would destroy class size, take away security guards from schools, diminish technology access, programs, field trips, extracurricular activities and more.

Maria DeVito, of Save Stamford Schools, says the Board of Finance doesn’t want taxpayers to have to make up an anticipated budget deficit because of hardships from COVID-19. However, she says punishing schools, teachers, and the city's education community is the wrong move.

"The kids need programs. They need people, they need help. Stamford is a DRG H population, that means it has a high population of students who are on free and reduced lunch. That means many students, many families live in poverty. They're not living in the right conditions. We need to help them. We need funding. Teachers do not work for free," says DeVito.

A budget meeting will be held Thursday night and the final vote will happen next week.

There was a budget meeting right after the rally and officials say a final word on this issue could come next week.

News 12 reached out to members of the Finance Committee for a comment, but they declined the request.