[Editor’s Note: This commentary originally published at “Notes from the Chalkboard: Thoughts on Education by Justin Parmenter.”]
For over a century, North Carolina was known as the “Education State” of the South—a place where public schools were the engine of economic growth and social mobility.
However, since the current legislative majority took control in 2011, we have witnessed a systematic reversal of that legacy.
What started as “fiscal restraint” has evolved into a fifteen year-long campaign to devalue the teaching profession and defund traditional public schools.
That’s why North Carolina teachers, parents, and advocates from all 100 counties are fed up and descending on Raleigh this Friday, May 1.
We aren’t just marching for ourselves. We are marching because the following policy choices made by Republican leadership over 15 years of majority rule have brought our schools to a breaking point.
Teacher Pay & Compensation
The foundation of a successful school system is a workforce of high-quality, dedicated professionals who feel valued and supported.
When we compensate teachers fairly, we ensure that the most talented individuals can afford to stay in the classroom, bringing their years of expertise to our children rather than being forced out of the profession by financial instability.
Since taking power, the Republican majority has systematically eroded the financial security of educators by:
- Stripped master’s pay: Removing the incentive for educators to advance their expertise.
- Removed longevity pay: Eliminating the “thank you” for years of dedicated service to NC students.
- Raises far outpaced by inflation: Effectively handing teachers a pay cut year after year.
- Cut retiree health benefits: Breaking a long-standing promise to take care of those who spent their lives in our classrooms.
Teacher Pipeline & Workforce
An effective education system requires a sustainable “pipeline” to recruit and retain the next generation of educators.
By investing in future teachers and providing them with workplace protections, we create a stable environment where students see familiar faces year after year and where schools can maintain a consistent, high standard of instruction.
The legislative majority has fractured this pipeline through several key policy shifts:
- Gutted Teaching Fellows program: Sabotaging the most successful recruitment tool for new teachers and best way to grow our own teachers right here at home.
- Eliminated due-process rights: Removing the job security that allows teachers to advocate for their students without fear.
- Cut 7,000 teaching assistants: Stripping essential support from our youngest and most vulnerable learners.
- Reduced university education program funding: Shrinking the pipeline of new talent at the very source.
Classroom Resources
A student’s learning environment is the physical manifestation of our priorities as a state. Providing small class sizes, modern technology, and adequate supplies ensures that every child receives the individualized attention they deserve and has access to the tools necessary to compete in a global economy.
Instead of investing in the classroom, the current leadership has stripped away essential resources:
- Uncapped class sizes grades 4-12: Prioritizing cramped spaces over individualized instruction.
- Eliminated state funding for professional development: Denying teachers the growth opportunities required to stay at the top of their field.
- Cut technology and classroom supplies funding: Forcing teachers to pay out of pocket for the tools the state refuses to provide.
Funding & Taxes
Public education is the ultimate collective investment, requiring a stable and honest revenue stream to meet the needs of a growing population.
Proper funding allows schools to go beyond basic instruction, providing the specialized support staff and safe, modern facilities that are essential for a child’s overall development and mental well-being.
Legislators have prioritized tax cuts for corporations while starving our public schools of necessary revenue:
- Repeatedly slashed taxes: Starving our schools of the revenue necessary to function.
- Froze per-pupil spending: Maintaining stagnant funding levels that ignore the rising costs of education.
- Eliminated hundreds of millions from school construction: Leaving students in aging, decaying facilities.
- Cut funding for school counselors and psychologists: Ignoring the mental health crisis currently facing our youth.
Vouchers & Diversion of Public Funds
The strength of a community is found in its commitment to a shared, public education system that serves every child regardless of their background or income.
True educational equity depends on keeping public tax dollars within the public schools that are accountable to the voters and designed to welcome everyone.
Over the last 15 years, the majority has progressively moved to privatize education by siphoning public funds:
- Expanded Opportunity Scholarships into Universal Vouchers: What began in 2014 as a program targeted at low income families has been transformed into a massive transfer of wealth. By removing all income caps, the state now uses public tax dollars to subsidize private school tuition for the wealthiest families in North Carolina—including those whose children have never spent a single day in a public classroom.
- Eliminated Accountability for Taxpayer Dollars: While public schools are micro-managed by state mandates, the hundreds of millions of dollars diverted to private and religious institutions come with almost no state oversight regarding curriculum, teacher qualifications, or student outcomes.
Curriculum & Local Control
An honest and comprehensive curriculum prepares students to think critically and engage thoughtfully with the world around them.
Respecting local control and the professional judgment of educators ensures that our schools remain spaces of learning rather than political battlegrounds, fostering an environment where all students feel seen and respected.
The legislature has increasingly interfered in local classrooms with partisan mandates:
- Restricted race and history curriculum: Limiting the ability of teachers to provide an honest and complete education.
- Imposed an A-F grading system: Stigmatizing high-poverty schools rather than providing the resources needed to help them thrive.
The Path Forward
The energy we feel on the streets of Raleigh this Friday, May 1, must be carried all the way to the finish line.
The current legislative majority has held power since 2010, and the results for our public schools have been devastating. We have seen a systematic dismantling of the very things that make North Carolina’s schools great, and it is no longer enough to just protest—we must participate.
The upcoming midterms represent the most critical turning point for our state in a generation.
It is time to elect leaders who will prioritize the classroom over corporate tax cuts and who believe that every child deserves a world-class public education.
When we head to the polls this November, let’s take the spirit of May 1 with us and vote for a new majority with the courage to reinvest in our teachers, our students, and our future.
