Hundreds of Union County teachers call out sick amid delayed pay increases
About 700 teachers in Union County Public Schools called out Wednesday amid demands the local board of education OK a $1,000 annual pay increase that has already been funded by Union County commissioners.
UCPS “cannot confirm” all the day’s leave requests are related to the protest, UCPS Assistant Superintendent of Communications Tahira Stalberte wrote in an email to The Charlotte Observer. However, the district did see a stark increase in teacher absences Wednesday. The district averages around 200-300 leave requests on a typical school day, Stalberte said. There are around 2,500 teachers employed in the district, Stalberte said.
UCPS requested an increase in county funding of $14.6 million for this year, which included a $2,000 increase to teacher pay supplements added atop the pay provided by state funding. Union County Commissioners approved an increase of $8.8 million in county funding for the UCPS budget.
However, the Union County school board has not voted to increase the district’s teacher pay supplement. It’s not immediately clear why it hasn’t done so.
Union County Commissioners penned a letter earlier this month urging the school board to pay teachers a $1,000 supplement increase.
“We stand ready to assist our education partners, and it was in good faith that the Board of County Commissioners provided additional funding for school needs with the understanding that teacher supplements were the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY,” county commission chair Melissa Merrell wrote.
On Tuesday, the Union County Public Schools Finance Committee recommended a plan to fund the $1,000 supplement increase, which will cost approximately $3.8 million. The board is expected to vote on the increase at its meeting Nov. 6.
However, some educators say the increase – which amounts to about $100 per month for each teacher – isn’t enough. Meanwhile, the UCPS board voted in February to give itself a $200-per-month raise, despite one board member calling it an “insult” to teachers. Board members, however, never received an increase because county government never took up the UCPS vote, spokesperson Tahira Stalberte said following publication of this story online. UCPS needed the county’s additional approval before the raises became official.
With an ongoing budget stalemate among lawmakers in Raleigh, public school teachers have not received any pay raises from the state this year and won’t until a new state budget is approved. Meanwhile, health insurance premiums for state employees increased.
“With the insurance premiums increasing as well, with inflation and everything else, teachers are actually taking a pay cut,” said Elena Brown, a former UCPS educator who has a son who attends school in the district. “They really don’t have a good reason to not give the teachers a meager – not even cost-of-living – increase.”
If the school board doesn’t vote to increase the supplement Nov. 6, educators are planning another protest Nov. 7, Brown said.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 1:39 PM.
