Durham Public Schools’ educators held walk-ins Friday morning at more than 20 schools across the county.

This comes after the school district announced in January that some staff had been overpaid since the previous summer. The pay dispute has been an ongoing issue with Durham Public Schools, and a resolution has yet to be reached.

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Pearsontown Elementary School teacher Francisco Dolz expressed her concerns about the issue.

"We are probably going to see a mass exodus of workers because people's lives are in limbo right now," Dolz said.

The Durham Association of Educators now has more than 2,600 members, which represents about half of all classified Durham Public Schools employees. The employees are calling for transparency and rebuilding trust.

Dolz said after the pay debacle earlier this year, the district needs what's called a meet-and-confer policy with the association.

"We need to work extremely hard to to improve our working conditions because we know, in-turn, that will improve our students' learning conditions," Dolz said.

Allison Swaim teaches U.S. history at Riverside High School and has been working for Durham Public Schools for 10 years. She said employees rallied to make schools better for students.

"People are tired of not having a say in our working conditions," she said. "We want to collaborate with each other, with the district, and ultimately improve schools for our kids."

Swaim said she's doing this so her coworkers are able to continue working for the district and do what they love.

"So much turnover is happening," she said. "So many people in the last few years, more and more, have been leaving.

"A lot of the reason why people are leaving is a lack of funding, a lack of investment in our schools. People are leaving because the pay is not matching the cost of living."

It's still not clear whether Durham educators will be given the raises they were promised.

"The school board has just passed a historic budget request," Swaim said. "It's really exciting."

The district is asking the county for a $27 million increase. As of Friday, the county is proposing of increasing the district's budget by $13 million, leaving a $14 million gap.

"That's going to be crucial," Swaim said. "People are leaving because the pay is not matching the cost of living."

After months of protests over incorrectly implemented salary changes earlier this year, the school board did put those raises in their budget. However, their request exceeds the proposed funding from the county – by a large amount.

You can find full coverage of the ongoing issues with Durham Public Schools on WRAL.com.