More than 2,000 University of California, California State University and community college students marched on the State Capitol to protest the proposed budget cuts and fee increases on Monday.

Protestors marched from Raley Field in West Sacramento, carrying signs, banging drums and chanting slogans to deliver their message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, whose office worked with student groups to organize the event, marched with students to show his support.

“There is no more important investment for California than students,” Garamendi told students at a post-march rally at the Capitol’s north steps. “You are the intellectual infrastructure of California.”

Garamendi told students they had come to send a message to the state government and then led the crowd in a chant: “Kick us out and we’ll vote you out!”

Garamendi was followed on the podium by a number of the state’s Democratic legislators, including Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly members Julia Brownley and Anthony Portantino and state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, who all assured the students that funding higher education in California is their priority and students’ concerns are being heard.

Perata told the crowd that the Legislature’s Democratic Caucus would not let budget cuts to higher education happen. Democrats will fight the budget cuts through the summer and fall if necessary, he said.

“This is not a complicated problem,” Perata said. “We need to raise taxes to fund higher education.”

Robert Torres, Sac State ASI secretary of State Affairs, said it was important for him to attend the march and rally to voice his protest because he is a student leader at Sac State and the budget cuts and fee increases affect him as an individual.

“A 10 percent fee increase doesn’t sound like much – just $200 a semester,” Torres said. “But I already live paycheck to paycheck and I don’t know where the extra money is going to come from.”

Following the march and rally, Garamendi met with in his office with student leaders to strategize about future actions.

Garamendi told the group that a strong cadre of student leaders is needed to continue the fight through the summer months.

“This is only the beginning,” Garamendi said. “Nobody else can deliver the message as well as students can.”