Opponents protest NC Senate plan to slash teacher assistant jobs

Dozens of demonstrators holding signs that read “Largest Layoffs Ever” gathered Sunday in South End to rally against a state Senate budget plan that would take thousands of teacher assistants out North Carolina school classrooms.

The protest is part of a statewide campaign after lawmakers presented a budget that could eliminate as many as 8,500 teaching assistant positions. The savings would help the state pay to add 2,000 teachers to reduce class sizes.

Calling it the “Pink Slip Truth” tour, protest organizers said they have planned rallies in Fayetteville and Greenville on Monday and Raleigh on Tuesday.

Progressive groups, politicians and others listened to speeches and carried signs in front of Atherton Mill at an event clearly designed to draw media attention. Speakers faced television cameras with their backs to other protesters.

“I couldn’t have done my job without a teacher assistant,” said State Sen. Joyce Waddell, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and former elementary school teacher. “I know the importance of teacher assistants. We have got to do better in Raleigh.”

The Senate plan asks schools to make a tradeoff.

There are about 23,000 teacher assistants working in North Carolina classrooms, and the state pays for the vast majority of the positions, according to the North Carolina Association of Teacher Assistants, which advocates for the workers.

Proposed cuts in teacher assistants will save the state $57.5 million in the next fiscal year and $166.1 million in 2016-17. On the other hand, the Senate plan would spend $79.9 million to reduce class sizes in the next fiscal year and $192.9 million in 2016-17 by hiring more teachers.

Teacher-student ratios in first through third grades next year would drop by one student, to 1-16 students per teacher. The next year, teacher-student ratios in kindergarten would be lowered by one student to 1-17. And in 2016-17, teachers in first through third grades would have a 1-15 ratio.

Reducing class sizes is widely considered a positive step to improve student performance.

Critics of the Senate budget say the trade isn’t necessary. Proposed corporate and personal income tax cuts would reduce money available for schools, they said. Opponents of the plan also say lawmakers misled the public by suggesting they would not make large reductions in education spending in exchange for hiring more teachers.

Susan Niday, a teacher assistant at Sterling Elementary in Charlotte, said without teacher assistants, classroom instruction would suffer. Students would receive less one-on-one attention, and teachers would grow more overburdened.

Teaching assistants help students individually, make copies for teachers, serve on school committees and carry out other duties.

“People in Raleigh don’t understand what we do,” Niday said. “You need that extra set of eyes.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2015 at 8:53 PM with the headline "Opponents protest NC Senate plan to slash teacher assistant jobs."