North Carolina teachers ready to rise up

If you were a teacher in North Carolina, what would you do if you found out your pay ranked 43rd in the nation? If schools were poorly resourced—with per-pupil spending ranked second to last among all states—and students had to make do with untrained substitutes instead of robustly supported, highly educated teachers? What if you knew that moving across the state line and teaching there would mean making $15,000 more a year?

Many people might just move and call it a raise. But teachers in North Carolina are organizing for change.

“Right now, our state is near the bottom nationally in public school funding while ranking among the top states for school voucher spending,” says Joanna Loftis, president of the American Federation of Professional Educators of North Carolina, which affiliated with the AFT in 2025. “The imbalance hurts students and destabilizes schools. Teachers organizing for change isn’t about leaving for better pay elsewhere, it’s about correcting that imbalance so public schools are properly funded and educators are paid fairly where they already serve.”

An uphill battle

Loftis and the union have their work cut out for them. Not only is the state 43rd in the nation for teacher pay; the state no longer supports pay increases for those with master’s degrees, limits step pay increases, and provides no health insurance after retirement for new hires—benefits that are standard fare in educator contracts in other states. Counties are paying “supplements” to state-mandated pay rates—if they can afford to—just to keep teachers in the classroom.

But teachers are still leaving. Nearly 9,000 teachers left their jobs in North Carolina between 2023 and 2024, a 9.88 percent decrease in the teacher workforce, according to the North Carolina State Board of Education.

Jeffrey Saunders, a science teacher at Main Street Academy in Winston-Salem, has had to work multiple jobs to stay afloat. But it’s the conditions in the school that most concern him: Main Street Academy is an alternative school for middle school and high school students whose behavior can be challenging and unpredictable, but Saunders has no teaching assistants to help maintain order. There hasn’t been enough staff to manage cafeteria lunch periods, so students are eating in the classrooms, and teachers have lost that crucial planning time. Over a recent break, Saunders’ classroom promethean board was vandalized and before that he was attacked by a student. His anxiety is so high, he goes to therapy.

“A change has to come,” says Saunders, who believes the union will help. His experience with a unionized school in Michigan convinced him that standing in solidarity to demand what educators need makes all the difference.

Fighting back

In a state where public employees are legally prohibited from collective bargaining, it’s an uphill battle to overcome these setbacks. But there are some bright spots.

Organizing within AFPENC is gaining momentum. The union, a statewide organization established in 1979, affiliated with the AFT last year and has gained the power of our 1.8 million-member national organization. With about 1,500 members, AFPENC has participated in No Kings protests; held book giveaways with the AFT and First Book; lobbied at the state and national levels; held professional development sessions and loan relief workshops; and picketed with U.S. Postal Service workers, Corning and the United Auto Workers.

The union has its eye on elections, too, supporting candidates who are aligned with working families and public school values, and even encouraging teachers who are running for office.

Outside AFPENC, the independent North Carolina Teachers in Action has organized protests and walkouts, further signaling an appetite for change. And the North Carolina Educators Association continues its work as well.

Alison Bellamy, a kindergarten teacher who works in New Hanover County, admits that the union looks different in a non-collective bargaining state, but says it’s still valuable, offering space for educators to “share their experiences, learn from one another and raise concerns in a constructive way.” It also offers professional learning opportunities, legal guidance and research-based information that informs how policy affects classrooms.

But problems remain, including in Bellamy’s classroom, where she has to go without a teaching assistant for all but an hour and 45 minutes every day. “It’s very difficult to meet the academic, social and developmental needs of 5-year-olds without consistent, full-day assistance,” she says. “Teachers remain deeply committed to their students, but the current conditions are increasingly difficult to maintain over time.”

Bellamy and others hope the union will help change that and win the resources their students need. “Despite these challenges, there remains a strong sense of purpose and commitment among North Carolina teachers,” she says. “Without meaningful investment in staffing and support, students are ultimately the ones who pay the price.”

[Virginia Myers]