Thousands of North Carolina teachers swarmed the state legislature on Wednesday to call for pay raises and more spending on schools, making the state the country’s sixth to be roiled by educators demanding better funding.

Hundreds of teachers in red T-shirts filled a spectators gallery and chanted “remember, remember, we vote in November” as the Republican-controlled General Assembly started its session.

Teachers filled a plaza outside the legislative building amid chants of “Red for Ed” backed by drums and a trombone. The protest prompted at least 38 districts, representing more than half the state’s 1.5 million public school students, to cancel classes.

The protest continues a wave of walkouts this year by teachers in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado who said lawmakers have failed to adequately pay teachers and provide for schools. (Reuters)

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