— When lawmakers return to Raleigh in two weeks for the start of the 2018 legislative session, thousands of teachers will be there to press an education agenda.

The March for Students and Rally for Respect event on May 16 opens with a 10 a.m. march through downtown from the North Carolina Association of Educators building on South Salisbury Street to the Legislative Building on Jones Street and ends with a 3:30 p.m. rally on Bicentennial Plaza across from the Legislative Building.

Between the march and the rally, teachers are expected to flood the halls of the legislature to meet with House and Senate members and push for higher salaries, more resources for students, school safety improvements, repairs to crumbling buildings and no further tax cuts until North Carolina reaches the national average in per-pupil spending.

"This is really catching on fire. We’ve got teachers coming from across the state. We’ve got busloads of folks taking the appropriate day, the personal leave," NCAE President Mark Jewell said. "This is not a strike or a walkout, but it is a huge mass uprising to say that public schools matter."

About 800 Durham teachers already plan to take a personal day on May 16 to attend the event. The Durham County Board of Education plans to discuss Wednesday whether to close schools that day or hold classes without the teachers.

Teacher protests have swept the nation in recent weeks, with strikes in West Virginia and Arizona, as teachers seek more support from state lawmakers.

"You’re seeing this red state revolution going on now, and we needed to do something with the General Assembly coming back and to let them know that we are watching their actions," Jewell said. "Everything that’s happened from West Virginia to Arizona to Oklahoma to Kentucky has happened to North Carolina, and we’re standing up for our public schools."

Churches and community groups in Durham have offered to chip in and ensure children get meals and supervision on May 16 if the schools close that day.

Bryan Proffitt, president of the Durham Association of Educators, said the support from community groups is important, saying some people are already complaining about the inconvenience an unplanned school holiday would create for families.

"It's nowhere near the inconvenience the General Assembly has put [teachers] under for the last 10 years," Proffitt said. "What we want folks to be aware of is just how dire the situation has gotten for educators here in North Carolina.

"For us as educators, it's personal," he continued. "We want them to look in our faces and answer these questions. There's elections in November. We want to have folks going on record right now, in May, what is their position and what are they going to do to make sure our kids' lives get better."

Jewell said the November elections are the "end game" of the teachers' efforts this spring.

"We know that this is a short session. We know the budget’s pretty much done – it was approved last year – but we are going to be watching them closely," he said.