Guilford County schools make May 1 optional for Raleigh teacher rally

Guilford County Schools will give educators an optional teacher workday on May 1, a move that lets staff travel to Raleigh for a statewide rally without having to choose between reporting to campus and showing up at the Capitol.

The decision comes as the North Carolina Association of Educators prepares its “Kids Over Corporations Rally” at Halifax Mall, where it says thousands of educators, parents and community allies will gather to press for more public-school funding, tighter accountability for voucher spending and an end to tax policies it says favor corporations and the wealthy. WUNC reported that Guilford County joined Chatham County and Chapel-Hill Carrboro City Schools in changing calendars because so many educators asked for leave that districts said substitute coverage would be difficult.

Guilford County Schools said it cited the Leandro decision and lawmakers’ failure to pass a state budget in making May 1 optional. The district also said its 2026 Legislative Agenda calls for a substantial increase in educator pay and market-rate wages for classified staff, a position that puts local staffing and retention concerns directly on the state’s funding fight.

The rally has become part of a familiar cycle in North Carolina education politics. NCAE says the May 1 demonstration follows earlier mass marches in 2018 and 2019 that drew an estimated 20,000 or more educators and public-school supporters. That history gives this year’s event a sense of scale, not just symbolism, as districts again reorganize around the pressure campaign.

The backdrop is a state system still wrestling with Leandro, the long-running school-finance case that began in 1997 and led courts to say North Carolina was not meeting its constitutional duty to provide a sound, basic education. WFMY reported that the state Supreme Court later signaled it could order billions more in school funding before reversing course and dismissing the case, leaving budget decisions to the General Assembly. The same report said North Carolina remains the only state without a budget, a delay now stretching nearly two and a half years, while Gov. Josh Stein has proposed a $1.4 billion interim “Critical Needs” package.

The Guilford board’s action also landed amid its own budget push. The board unanimously adopted Superintendent Whitney Oakley’s $961.2 million proposed budget, which seeks $313.6 million from Guilford County, a 9% increase from last year. It also approved a resolution urging the General Assembly to adopt a state budget immediately.

Not all board members were comfortable with the calendar change. The county’s two Republican members, Linda Welborn and Chrissy Pratt, both voiced concern over making the day optional, even as the board moved ahead. Deena Hayes said competitive salaries are tied to keeping highly qualified educators in classrooms and easing financial stress that can pull attention away from teaching. The May 1 vote shows how tightly local school operations, teacher morale and state funding politics are now bound together in Guilford County.