WAILUKU, Maui — Two Makawao mothers are organizing protests against a contract agreement to furlough public school teachers, and hoping to get the attention of legislators.

Although, as stay-at-home moms of school-aged children, Liza DeLaRosa-Walker and Kris Musto don't have to worry about child care themselves, both are concerned about how other families will cope and how children will fare with the loss of classroom instruction, especially when schools are already struggling to meet benchmarks.

"It's an issue for many in the community," DeLaRosa-Walker said Wednesday afternoon after helping organize a second protest against the furlough plan.

Approximately 60 people were in Wailuku town Wednesday morning, holding signs in protest of the furlough days that teachers will take to help balance the state's budget. Earlier the same day, protesters rallied at the intersection of Haleakala and Hana highways.

DeLaRosa-Walker, with three children at Makawao Elementary School and two attending Kalama Intermediate School, said she and Musto also coordinated a protest last week in Makawao and plan to hold another sign-waving event next week.

She said they are urging state lawmakers to call a special session of the Legislature to respond to the issue, possibly by tapping the state's hurricane relief fund to cover lost days of instruction.

She and others expect to meet soon with state Upcountry Rep. Kyle Yamashita to discuss the situation.

But in the meantime DeLaRosa-Walker urged others to write to state legislators for help.

"We're not teachers. We are not equipped to help them," said Musto, a mother of a kindergartner and third-grader at Makawao Elementary School, and a seventh-grader at Kihei Charter School.

DeLaRosa-Walker said in addition to the loss of classroom instruction, the furloughs will affect families whose children get their only regular meal at school. She also wonders how the furloughs will affect lower-income families whose parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

"First and foremost, we want those furlough days gone, that's our immediate concern," DeLaRosa-Walker said.