You've got to hand it to the Baltimore Algebra Project. Year after year, the students in this tutoring group are out in the streets fighting for what a judge has said the Baltimore schools are entitled to... what amounts to an extra $800 million in state funding. Year after year, they're driving politicians crazy.

This afternoon, Algebra Project students are planning to march from City Hall to the Inner Harbor, starting at 3:30. They'll be demanding more youth jobs along with other teen advocacy groups (including a few other Algebra Project chapters) in Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, and Asheville, N.C. The theme of the protests is "Jobs and Education" -- namely, inner-city kids need a good education, and they need access to jobs. Kids who don't get a good education and don't have access to legal after-school and summer jobs turn to drug dealing to make ends meet, thus the rise of gangs, thus the killings. (Students in the Algebra Project, by the way, make a couple thousand dollars a year for tutoring their peers in math. Some contribute to their families' electric bills and rent.)

On top of those issues, an Algebra Project protest would not be complete without calls on the governor to give the city schools $800 million. Those demands take on added meaning now that Gov. Martin O'Malley is talking about scaling back on yearly funding increases to school districts to keep up with inflation. As mayor, O'Malley met with the Algebra Project in March 2006 and told the students to hold then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich accountable for adequately funding the city schools.

Check out this video chronicling some of the group's history of civil disobedience: