Parents of Middle River Middle School students, angered by furloughs and budget cuts, staged a protest outside the school yesterday afternoon.

Protests and demonstrations have become commonplace throughout Baltimore County in the past few weeks as parents, teachers and students seek to convey their unhappiness over how state and county fiscal policy is affecting education.

Teachers from Hillcrest Elementary School in Catonsville, who demonstrated earlier this week, staged protests yesterday as well.

Parents and teachers at Sandalwood Elementary School in Essex plan a meeting at the school Monday night to get signatures for petitions asking the General Assembly to restore funding to the education budget.

"We're doing this for the entire county, not just one school," said Douglas Forrester, a Middle River Middle parent. "There's no reason for these cuts. It's gone too far."