As thousands of educators march on Raleigh, lawmakers go on the attack

With tens of thousands of teachers getting ready to march in Raleigh on Wednesday, politicians are trying to make sure the second walkout for public education is the last. Instead of listening to the educators’ demands, lawmakers want to ban teachers from taking a personal day without a substitute lined up.

• This budget provision would essentially ban further teacher marches during a school day.
• Educators are already banned from collective bargaining, and they are banned from going on strike. This is yet another gratuitous attack on educators’ First Amendment rights.
• Lawmakers’ retaliation against the teacher march shows why it is even more important for every North Carolina public school employee to join the march on May 1 and show the politicians that educators will not be silenced.
• More than 70% of the voting public agrees that educators should be able to take a personal day to mobilize on Raleigh to speak up for public schools.

The fight for North Carolina public schools will not end on May 1, and it won’t end because of a budget provision aimed at silencing educators. This is only the beginning.