Next Wednesday, thousands of North Carolina public school teachers will march in Raleigh, demanding increased funding for what they do to improve all our futures in this state. They are animated by what the Republican General Assembly under the control of Berger/Moore did during the last several years:
The N.C. Teaching Fellows program was eliminated, textbook funding cut by $77 million, classroom supply funding sliced by $45 million and extra pay for master’s and advanced degrees stripped away, while millions were diverted to private schools through the state voucher programs.
Senate President Phil Berger calls them "far-left" agitators who need to stay home. Fellow Republican and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson, whose major job should be support for teachers, urged them to cancel their march next Wednesday and pick a day in June instead. Which prompted a response from a Durham school teacher who happens to be both Republican and a Southern Baptist:
“You, of all people should be supporting us, not asking us to sit back and just take what is thrown at us," teacher Angela Coffman wrote to Johnson. "You can choose to stand with us and fight for what is right or you can choose to continue belittling us, making us feel we are not worth fighting for.”
We know from recent history in other states that when public school teachers get stirred up, their stirring can create a vortex of trouble for the People in Power. Their cause is just, their anger is righteous, and their hour is coming round next Wednesday in the streets of Raleigh.
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