On Saturday, Oct. 26, Alamance Burlington Association of Educators organized a march from Elon Community Church to Elon University’s South Gym — which is Alamance County One Stop Early Voting Location.
The goal of the march was to motivate voters to support public education and schools when they go to the polls this election season. Roughly 15 people participated in the march.
“Schools Vote Together” aims to charge voters all over North Carolina to bring visibility to public education and its importance on the ballot this cycle.
President of Alamance Burlington Association of Educators Robert Alvis said he wants people to recognize how every level of government has a hand to play in shaping the future of public education.
“What we’re here to support is the idea of an excellent quality public education for every child,” Alvis told Elon News Network. “A lot of that is up to our elected officials all the way from the local level — like the school board and the county commission — up to the state level with the general assembly and the governor and all the way up to the national level.”
Alvis also wanted to focus on the struggles many North Carolina schools and teachers have to deal with because of budget cuts and a lack of prioritization by the state government.
“Over the past 10 years, we've had a lot of budget cuts, a lot of issues getting enough funding for adequate facilities,” Alvis said. “Our public schools need the support of our elected officials, and that only counts when the voters show up at the ballot boxes.”
Support for public schools has become an issue many North Carolinian candidates have campaigned on. LeVon Barnes has worked as a public school teacher for 20 years in North Carolina and is currently running for District 64 North Carolina House of Representatives seat.
Barnes said he wants voters to be aware of where North Carolina ranks in teacher pay and pupil funding. North Carolina is 38th in teacher pay and 48th in pupil funding. To Barnes, this does not put North Carolinian students on equal footing with other students from different states.
A participant holds a "Public Schools Strong!" sign in the parking lot of the Elon Community Church on Oct. 26. The Alamance Burlington Association of Educators hosted a march to the polls event to practice early voting.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Josh Stein visited Alamance County on Oct. 19 campaigning on making financial support for public schools a priority if elected governor this November, echoing North Carolina ranking.
“We should be pushing public schools because we see so much good in our kids every single day,” Barnes said. “And yet, teachers have to do so much more and more with less and less that we should have an equal footing.”
Another important aspect Barnes said voters should be mindful of is which representatives support school vouchers. School vouchers are public taxes which are diverted from public schools to help parents pay for private school tuition.
“You have folks who are looking to take away your public tax dollars to support voucher systems that will allow wealthy families to send their children to school for free,” Barnes said. “Where we have schools that have mold and we have buildings that are falling apart and students that are losing their favorite teachers on a day-in, day-out basis. That's not right.”
Participants with the Alamance Burlington Association of Educators march to Elon University's South Gym on Oct. 26 to practice early voting and motivate voters to support public education this election cycle.
Barnes said he hopes voters will use their own experiences with public education and vote for candidates who reflect those values.
“Do your homework: who truly supports public education and does not?” Barnes said.
Early voting in North Carolina ends at 3 p.m. Nov. 2.
For more election coverage, go to Elon News Network’s Election Center dashboard.
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Anjolina Fantaroni contributed to the reporting of this story.