‘We mean business!’ Wake teachers and bus drivers rally for higher pay raises.

Wake County teachers and school bus drivers are loudly lobbying the school board to increase the size of proposed employee pay raises in this year’s budget.

School employees held rallies Tuesday morning at seven schools and the district’s main school bus yard ahead of the school board’s budget work session. The board is considering different salary options that could lead to them asking the Wake County Board of Commissioners for an overall funding increase of more than $70 million this year.

“Parents, community members tell them (school board) you want to recruit and retain quality educators in the Wake County Public School System,” Christina Spears, president of the Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said at Tuesday’s rally at Abbotts Creek Elementary School in North Raleigh. “Every single one of us deserves to make a living wage that allows us to live in this county and thrive.”

School employees didn’t walk off the job on Tuesday. Instead they held “walk-ins” before classes started or buses began rolling.

Higher pay raises under discussion

Last month, Wake County Superintendent Robert Taylor released a proposed budget that asks commissioners for a $58.3 million increase in local funding.

Taylor’s budget includes the state’s expected 3% raise this year for teachers and other school employees.

Board members told Taylor that the proposed raises aren’t good enough.

The board will review four budget options on Tuesday that include a mix of pay raises and some cuts to mitigate the requested increase in county funding. The options would raise the $58.3 million local funding increase proposed by Taylor by another $4.6 million to $11.8 million.

The options include raising the amount that Wake supplements the state’s base salaries for teachers by 4% or 4.5%

Another budget option would raise the minimum salary for bus drivers to $20 an hour.

Taylor’s budget would raise the minimum salary for other support staff — such as cafeteria workers and teacher assistants — to $17.26 an hour. The new options would provide those workers with at least a 4% raise or raise the minimum salary to between $17.50 and $18.25 an hour.

Putting pressure on school board

Wake NCAE organized the Tuesday “walk-ins” to send the message that the school board needs to ask for the pay raises it had previously promised as part of a multi-year plan.

“We are here because we are reminding the school board with our clever signs, our unifying red and our adorable smiles that we mean business!” said Mary Todd Earnhardt, a first-grade teacher and one of the Wake NCAE building representatives at Abbotts Creek Elementary.

Participants held up signs with slogans such as “My second job paid for this sign,” “Fair Pay - Teachers Stay” and “Teachers don’t accept incomplete work!”

“We are committed to ensuring that we have the best working conditions, including the conditions of our bank accounts.,” Earnhard told the crowd of around 50 people. “Can I get an amen? As we make the turn from one month into the next, we feel the struggle.

“We are preparing for two unpaid summer months. We feel the struggle and we need to make sure the school board also knows we feel the struggle.”

The rallies come after a recent state report shows teacher turnover has risen 47% in North Carolina’s public schools.

“With an increasing number of teachers leaving the field due to low pay and inadequate support, the strain on veteran teachers who remain is visible,” said Sue Reynolds, a music teacher with a second job who is one of Abbott Creek Elementary’s Wake NCAE representatives. “Despite our passion for teaching, the need to make ends meet pushes us to seek additional sources of income.”