Over the past few weeks, talk surrounding the NCAE May Day protest has been growing. Since April, the NCAE (North Carolina Association of Educators) has been planning and promoting their latest protest advocating for higher teacher salaries and increased educational funding. This protest that took place on May 1 follows their similar May Day protests which were put on in 2018 and 2019. These protests drew in massive numbers in 2018 and 2019 and 2026 was no different.
Though for many schools May 1 was an already scheduled teacher work day, many schools who had still planned school had to cancel due to the thousands of teachers calling in requests for leave to attend the protest. At least 13 school districts across the state of North Carolina, from Asheville to Pitt County, had to cancel class or implement remote learning days.
Even the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) sent out an announcement the day before the protest, April 30, notifying parents and teachers that “Schools scheduled to be in session will operate on a remote learning day on Friday, May 1.”
Towards the end of the message from WCPSS it also stated that, “Moments like this reinforce the vital role our educators play each day.” This statement helped to cement their support of the activities taking place on Friday.
Though it was necessary to cancel class, this announcement from WCPSS did leave many parents frustrated as it came with only a day’s notice, leaving many parents to scramble to find child-care for their children.
Member of the NC state senate Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, even voiced concerns noting that parents have to, “make special arrangements for their children because the teachers refuse to work on a day they are supposed to work.”
But despite the messy scheduling, thousands of teachers and allies alike showed up and gathered in downtown Raleigh at Halifax Mall around 10:30 a.m. May 1 to participate in the teacher-led protest taglined “Kids for Cooperations.” Their goal for the rally was to protest the state’s current low-ranking spending on education compared to the rest of the southeast, demand a 25% salary increase for all school staff and ask for $20,000 of spending per student by 2030.
And these are no small requests, the requests for salary increases and spending per student alone would cost around $12.6 billion in new funding. Even Gov. Josh Stein who has spoken out publicly about the need for increased spending on public education proposed only a 11% salary increase over 2 years for teachers here in NC.
But all of these requests don’t come out of nowhere. For many the protest was a response to the all-time low public school funding (NC ranks last (51st) in public school funding), low teacher pay, and corporate tax breaks that have become increasingly common.
And while teacher pay has never been very high, many teachers here in North Carolina are really feeling the strain now with the average salary being only around $55,000. That’s barely enough to support one person let alone someone with children. This low pay is causing many teachers to take on additional jobs or simply leave the professional altogether in search of a higher salary. The current pay teachers are receiving is simply an insufficient amount compared to all the work teachers put into their job inside and out of school.
If this NCAE protest has made anything clear it is that educators are calling on our lawmakers and demanding better. This is a cry for help and we must act now before it is too late.
