North Carolina’s public school educators are coming to Raleigh because the current legislative majority enacted a series of devastating cuts to our public schools in 2011 and 2013 and our education system still hasn't recovered.
Educators demands are:
- Additional funding to adequately staff schools with psychologists, social workers, nurses, and librarians.
- Restoration of extra pay for advanced degrees.
- Increasing the minimum wage for all school personnel to $15 an hour and a 5 percent cost of living raise for school employees and retirees.
- Expansion of Medicaid to improve the health of students and their families.
- Restoration of retiree health benefits for teachers hired after 2021.
“All of the things we marched for last year are not being addressed by the General Assembly,” said Mark Jewell president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. “It’s time for us during this long session to remind them [lawmakers] that education still needs to be a priority.”
