All Out for May 1

During the 49th meeting of the North Carolina Association of Educators Representative Assembly, delegates ratified New Business Item 17- a call for all public school workers and supporters to meet in Raleigh to demand the following from the North Carolina General Assembly:

1. Provide enough Library Media Coordinators, School Psychologists, School Social Workers, Professional School Counselors, School Nurse, and other health professionals to meet national standards
   • North Carolina public schools have:
     • One School Psychologist for every 1,857 students. The national standard is 1:700
     • One School Social Worker for every 1,427 students. The national standard is 1:250 with a specific ratio of 1:50 for “high needs populations” (NASW, 2012)
     • One Professional School Counselor for every 350 students. The national standard is 1:250
     • One School Nurse for every 2,315 students. The national standard is one for each school, every day
   • North Carolina has the highest gap of children receiving needed mental health treatment with 72% of children not receiving intervention and therapy (Whitney & Peterson, 2019)
2. $15 Minimum Wage for all school personnel, 5% raise for all school workers, and a 5% Cost of Living Adjustment for retirees
   • In 2018, lawmakers increased the minimum base wage of all of state employees to $15 per hour — except for public school employees. School support staff such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and teacher assistants were left out
3. Expand Medicaid to improve the health of our students and families
   • 500,000 North Carolinians would benefit from Medicaid expansion with 208,000 North Carolinians with NO realistic access to health care insurance without Medicaid expansion
4. Reinstate State Retiree health benefits eliminated by the General Assembly in 2017
   • Lawmakers eliminated retirement health benefits for any new educators hired after 2020
5. Restore advanced degree compensation stripped by the General Assembly in 2013
   • In 2013, legislators went back on the promise of advanced degree compensation

We are calling on public school workers and public school supporters to join us in Raleigh on May 1st.

“How do I get connected?”

• Join the only organization in North Carolina putting 30,000+ public school workers and public education supporters in the streets to fight for the schools we all deserve (dues free from now until September!) Download the form here!
• Come to the April DAE Mass Meeting- Tuesday, April 9th from 5-7pm at Staff Development Center
• Durham Volunteer form
• Statewide Volunteer form
• Half-Sheet Handbill with information about Personal Leave rights (can be printed double sided)

“What are my rights?”

NCAE created a one-pager about your rights when using Personal Leave.

“What did we win last year?”

For a full look, see the Red4EdNC blog post by Angie Scioli, a union member out of Wake County.

1. We aren’t scared. And now, they know we aren’t scared. And they’re scared of us. We won the fear of the privatizers who now know that we’re willing to fight for our kids’ education and our workplaces.
2. We captured the energy from May 16th and drove it straight to the polls in November. We broke the supermajority in both houses of the General Assembly, restored the Governor’s veto power, and changed the majority in the state Supreme Court. We redid the whole dang thing.

Let’s go win some more. 

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