INSTITUTE INDEX: The teacher uprising comes to North Carolina
Wearing "Red for Ed," tens of thousands of North Carolina teachers and supporters flooded the streets of the state capital this week to demand more funding for the state's schools. (Photo from the NCAE Facebook page.)
Rank of the May 16 teacher march in Raleigh, North Carolina, among the capital city's largest marches ever, part of a recent wave of teacher uprisings that have won policy changes in states including Kentucky and West Virginia: 1
Estimated number of teachers and allies who took part in the "March for Students and Rally for Respect" organized by the N.C. Association of Educators (NCAE) to coincide with the May 16 opening day of the 2018 legislative session: between 19,000 and 30,000
Number of North Carolina school districts that canceled classes that day because so many teachers intended to take off work to march: at least 42
Among the NCAE's top legislative priorities, rank of raising per-pupil spending: 1
National average for per-pupil spending in 2017: $12,998
Average in the 13 Southern states*: $11,178
Average in North Carolina, which ranks 41st among the states: $10,259
Rank of addressing teacher pay among the NCAE's top priorities: 2
Average public teacher salary nationally in 2017: $59,660
In North Carolina, putting it at 37th among the states, up from 47th four years ago because of a series of pay hikes: $49,970
Average teacher pay in the South: $49,468
In Mississippi, which ranks last nationally: $42,925
Average amount of their own money public school teachers spend annually on classroom supplies: $479
Average spent by teachers working in high-poverty schools: $554
Under a proposal put forth recently by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D), number of years it would take his state to reach the national average for teacher pay: 4
Average percent raise North Carolina's Republican legislative leaders want to give teachers this year, rejecting calls to bring pay levels up to the national average: 6
Percent of the North Carolina legislature facing re-election this year, which was noted by the protesting teachers, who chanted outside the legislative chamber, "Remember, remember, we vote in November": 100
* Facing South counts among the Southern states Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.