Alamance educators join Raleigh rally for school funding, higher pay

Alamance County families are already seeing how state budget delays can reach far beyond Raleigh. In Alamance-Burlington schools, teacher shortages and a bus-driver crunch have put pressure on daily operations, and local educators said those problems will linger if lawmakers do not resolve school funding and pay.

That warning brought Alamance educators to Halifax Mall in downtown Raleigh on Friday, where the North Carolina Association of Educators gathered thousands of teachers, parents, students and community allies for its “Kids Over Corporations” rally. Representatives from 18 school districts took part, including Alamance County, as the crowd pressed for higher teacher pay, more public school funding and action on the long-delayed state budget.

The budget fight has been dragging on for more than nine months, leaving teacher raises unresolved as the school year moved on. Governor Josh Stein proposed a $1.4 billion Critical Needs Budget on March 9 that included $397 million for teachers and instructional support. His plan called for a 13% increase in starting teacher pay and nearly a 6% increase in average teacher pay, a response to mounting concern over North Carolina’s position in national pay rankings.

The National Education Association ranked North Carolina 46th nationally in teacher pay in its 2026 data, and projected the state would be the only one where teacher salaries would fall in 2025-26. For Alamance County, those figures are more than a statewide talking point. When schools struggle to hire and keep staff, the effects show up in the classroom and on the bus ride home.

Alamance educators have been here before. In 2019, Alamance-Burlington School System teachers and the Alamance-Burlington Association of Educators traveled together to a Raleigh march to push for wages, benefits and degree compensation. The district has also faced staffing and budget pressures, including a bus-driver shortage that worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic.

That history gave Friday’s rally a familiar edge for Alamance County. The rally’s demands in Raleigh were aimed at lawmakers, but the stakes were local: whether schools can fill jobs, keep routes running and hold on to the people who make daily instruction possible in Burlington and across Alamance County.