Hundreds Rally in Pack Square for Public Schools, Worker Solidarity

Hundreds packed Pack Square Park on Friday as Asheville-area teachers, school workers and labor advocates used May Day to press state leaders for more money for public schools, higher pay and better working conditions.

The rally, organized by Buncombe Over Billionaires, drew a crowd downtown around the same time thousands of educators, parents and students were marching in Raleigh for the North Carolina Association of Educators’ “Kids Over Corporations” rally. In Asheville, many participants said public education was the central issue, and some carried that message straight to paychecks, class sizes and the day-to-day shortages they say schools are facing.

The demands were clear: more public school funding, higher teacher pay, smaller class sizes, modern facilities and an end to voucher expansion and corporate tax breaks. Those are demands aimed primarily at the North Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Josh Stein, who on April 21 proposed a 2026-27 budget that his office said would raise starting teacher pay to the highest in the Southeast. The state still had no finalized fiscal year 2026-27 budget as the rallies unfolded.

The pressure was visible in Buncombe County classrooms, too. Asheville City Schools made May 1 an optional teacher workday after a significant number of staff members requested personal or unpaid leave to attend the Raleigh march. Buncombe County Schools also made the day optional after nearly 600 teachers requested leave. The absences underscored how many local educators were willing to give up a workday to push for better pay, better benefits and more stable classrooms.

WLOS reported that Asheville participants linked the day not just to schools, but to broader labor and social justice concerns, including workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, anti-war activism, racial equality and universal health care. A 9-year-old Asheville participant, Forrest Moore, said his family wanted teachers to get better pay, a reminder that the issue reaches families far beyond union circles.

Buncombe Over Billionaires said it organized 10 community meals across Asheville for families affected by the school closures, including a site at Trinity United Methodist Church in west Asheville, along with locations in west Asheville, Arden and Shiloh. That response showed how the labor action spilled into daily life for families who rely on school meals and school-based care.

The Asheville protest wrapped up around 6 p.m. after a march through downtown, leaving Pack Square Park with a simple political signal: in Buncombe County, public education and worker pay remain live issues, and the pressure is now aimed squarely at the budget and election-year agendas that will shape them next.