Rally held to protest possible cuts of 8,000+ teaching assistants

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The North Carolina General Assembly is working on budget cuts, and on the chopping block are about 8,000 teaching assistant positions throughout the state.

“Teaching assistants are to classrooms like operating room nurses are to operating rooms,” Northside High School teacher Chris Meeks said.

More than 8,500 TA jobs are on the line pending the General Assembly’s decision on the budget.

“We just need our teaching assistants more now than ever as our education is continually under attack,” Meeks said.

And North Carolina educators are coming together to fight for their jobs.

“The elimination of 8,500+ teacher assistants is really insane,” Karen Green, a teacher at the Gregory School of Science, Mathematics and Technology said.

Joining in front of the New Hanover County Schools building on Carolina Beach Road to let folks know that students need TAs.

“They are essential personnel in the classroom to make sure that each and every one of our students gets an equal and excellent education,” Meeks said.

The General Assembly’s decision to take a week’s vacation has not gone unnoticed by TA supporters.

“How can you go on vacation and leave 8,500+ people looking or waiting to find out if they have a job to support their family?” Green said.

Demonstrators asked folks to reach out to lawmakers and tell them to protect TA jobs in North Carolina.

The General Assembly will meet again on Monday and continue working on the state’s budget. That budget was due on July 1.