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When lawmakers return to Raleigh in two weeks for the start of the 2018 legislative session, thousands of teachers will be there to press an education agenda.
The March for Students and Rally for Respect event on May 16 opens with a 10 a.m. march through downtown from the North Carolina Association of Educators building on South Salisbury Street to the Legislative Building on Jones Street and ends with a 3:30 p.m. rally on Bicentennial Plaza across from the Legislative Building.
Between the march and the rally, teachers are expected to flood the halls of the legislature to meet with House and Senate members and push for higher salaries, more resources for students, school safety improvements, repairs to crumbling buildings and no further tax cuts until North Carolina reaches the national average in per-pupil spending.
"This is really catching on fire. We’ve got teachers coming from across the state. We’ve got busloads of folks taking the appropriate day, the personal leave," NCAE President Mark Jewell said. "This is not a strike or a walkout, but it is a huge mass uprising to say that public schools matter."