Nearly 40 school districts in North Carolina will close schools on Wednesday, May 16. That is the opening day for the legislative session, and thousands of teachers from around the state plan to protest in Raleigh for better pay and working conditions. The demonstration comes as teachers strike and walk out in other states around the country, like Arizona, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
Host Frank Stasio talks to WFDD education and environment reporter Keri Brown about what educators and parents are saying about the demonstration. Education policy analyst Helen Ladd joins the conversation to talk about how education policy has evolved in the North Carolina in the last decade. Ladd is a professor emerita of public policy and economics at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. She discusses some of the biggest concerns for educators in the state, like teacher pay and low per-pupil spending.