Just about the time many families head to the store to buy back-to-school supplies, a group of teachers, parents, and students will head to Washington, D.C., for a rally. The Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action includes four days of conferences July 28-31 with a march to the White House July 30.

It promises to be one of the most visible push-backs against the public school "reform" movement that has increasingly demonized teachers and misrepresented public education in general.

Speakers at the conferences and the march include prominent educators and authors such as Jonathan Kozol, Linda Darling-Hammond, Diane Ravitch, Pedro Noguera and Deborah Meier.

The rally is sponsored by such diverse groups as the United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministry, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National Council of Teachers of English, and Parents Across America, among many others.

Both national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, are also participants, as well as celebrities such as Tom Chapin, Matt Damon, Richard Dreyfuss and Dave Eggers, who include public education in the list of causes they support.

The organizers have a few basic principles they want to illuminate.

First, they call for equitable funding for all public school populations.

"Equitable funding does not mean 'equal' funding - or even adequate funding," the organizers write. "The market-based policies now advanced by the U.S. Department of Education in their Blueprint for re-authorizing No Child Left Behind do not address inequities of funding or opportunity for American children. They will take us in the wrong direction."

They go on to outline a list of supports, particularly for children of poverty, much like those offered in countries such as Finland that consistently top the world in school performance.

Secondly, the organizers call for ending high-stakes testing for students, teachers, and schools.

When used properly, tests are a valuable tool for educators in assessing what students know. Good assessments allow teachers to adjust what they do in the classroom to better meet the needs of their students.

However, that's not what the increased testing being pushed by the school "reformers" is doing. Instead of informing instruction, tests are used to judge the effectiveness of teachers and schools, even though test makers warn that doing so is not valid. Teachers have lost their jobs and schools have been closed because of test scores - scores that highlight what should surprise no one - that the lowest performing students are those with the most economic disadvantages.

Increased testing does nothing to address the issues that impede student performance and has even resulted in negative unforeseen consequences. For example, in some school districts, the emphasis on high-stakes testing has resulted in cheating scandals or the narrowing of the curriculum.

Organizers of the Save Our Schools march and rally also advocate for curriculum developed for and by local school communities as well as public education policies formed by teachers, families, and local leadership such as school boards.

That's a contrast to what is driving the education "reform" movement now, with many education leaders being groomed and legislators being lobbied by corporations that do not hide their agendas for privatizing education.

The naysayers will be out in force as people gather on the Ellipse July 30 - but they are out in force now, spending time and money perpetrating misinformation about public schools.

"What a waste of a perfectly good day," one blogger wrote about the march. "It will have about the same effect as the marches during the civil rights days."

I hope so. I believe in the power of symbols. A march may not change bad legislation or change the minds of ideologues unwilling to listen, but most people in this country still believe that public education benefits us all and is worth supporting. Teachers, parents and students joining together to advocate for a better education system - one that's more responsive to the genuine inequities and needs of students all across the country - will be a powerful voice for effective change.

"It's time for us to get up off our knees in front of this enormous juggernaut and stop bargaining for crumbs," Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities, said recently. "I've begun to see a movement of resistance growing now for several years. I've seen courageous teachers speaking up and reaching out to others. And I've seen the tide of activism start to rise, and surge, among our students and the parents of those students.

"I think a moment of critical energy has suddenly emerged. But moments like this come and go unless we seize them at their height."