'We're not teacher thugs:' Wake County teachers stand up for school funding, teacher pay
Many teachers do not normally talk publicly about what they are going through on the job, simply keeping their heads down, but at Wednesday's rally, many Wake County teachers said it's time to speak up.
Posted — UpdatedStarus Williamson is a Wake County teacher and has been in the classroom for six years.
"We are not teacher thugs, as I have seen in the news," Williamson said.
It’s important to teachers that this moment is clearly understood and that their agenda is not twisted.
She simply wants lawmakers to understand what it’s like to be a teacher in 2018.
"Our administration does a good job at making resources stretch, but as we all know, they can only stretch so far, and some of the mandates they have, like class size, and not always wanting to give adequate funding for those thing," Williamson said.
When funding falls short – Laurie Dudash, another Wake County teacher, reaches into her own pocket,
"Our only hope is to turn in receipts and the PTA reimburses us," Dudash said. "I shop for groceries in Target, and I'm buying school supplies and my husband doesn't know it."
They hope their stories and the crowd of thousands wearing red shirts around the legislative building will be enough.
"I worry about the future to be quite honest with you," she said. "I am 18 years in. I worry about the state of education as a whole in North Carolina."
Rep. Grier Martin is a Democrat from Wake County.
"If a rally of thousands of teachers from around North Carolina does not change minds, then we have something wrong with the democratic system," Martin said.
Teachers have also promised to show up again in large numbers at the ballot box in November.
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