Our elected officials cannot agree on the state budget impacting teacher retention, the health of our public schools and the sustenance of music and the arts in schools. NCMEA members are uniquely positioned to educate them on what this means in the classroom.
What can you do? Every member can help, but taking action now is critical.
- Use the Find Your Legislators tool by typing in your address and then confirming your NC House and NC Senate members of the NC General Assembly (not the US Congress).
- Contact the state legislators that represent you and share the personal impact of the proposed teacher salary budgets.
- Share with them a testimony of your education career and how salary issues affect the quality of your life.
- Share how music brought you into the teaching profession.
- Share the value and joy music brings to your students, how it enhances the quality of their education, how it encourages their commitment to school, and how it brings positivity to the school climate and community.
- Request legislators consider higher levels of teacher salary appropriations in order to keep our schools strong and to ensure we are best serving our children.
- Focus your communication so that it is professional, respectful, and non-partisan. Key decisions for the budget will be made by one party so we want to drive home the impacts of the decisions on each of us without regard to who made them.
- Call them, email them, or set up a time to meet with them face-to-face in your district or in Raleigh. The input from every NCMEA member is critically important, now more than ever.
As always, if you have questions about legislation, government issues, or advocacy, please reach out to Advocacy Chair James Daugherty or Executive Director Susan Heiserman.
Thank you!
