North Carolina teachers plan new rally to press demands

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina teachers didn't win the pay hikes and other changes they sought last year, despite a rally that brought 20,000 people to the capital, but they believe their activism helped elect a more sympathetic legislature and will take to the streets again Wednesday.

Schools across the state have announced they will have to close as teachers, support staff and advocates press their demands in Raleigh.

Mark Jewell, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said last year's demonstration energized teachers to vote and helped break the Republican supermajority in the state House and Senate.

"Last year, we changed some policymakers," he said. "This year, we want to change some policy."

Teachers in neighboring South Carolina also plan to rally Wednesday and Oregon teachers plan to gather next week as walkouts that began in West Virginia last spring continue across the country , with many proving successful.

In Los Angeles, teachers won promises for more counselors and nurses. In Denver, they got a revamped pay scale. And in West Virginia, educators who went out on strike again this year blocked a plan to create the state's first charter schools.

In North Carolina, the list of demands this year includes Medicaid expansion, restoring extra pay for teacher's master's degrees and a $15 minimum wage for support staff.

North Carolina's superintendent of public education, Mark Johnson, criticized the organizers for scheduling the march on a school day, when classes must be canceled. In addition, students who depend on free or reduced breakfasts and lunches may not be able to get the food they need, he said, although some school parent-teacher associations packed meals for those students to take home Tuesday.

"We want to retain teachers...