Lila Bostian is president of Rowan Retired School Personnel. NCAE promotes public education for all students, no matter their race, socioeconomic level, ability or disability. The concept of “school choice” and giving vouchers to private institutions is just another method of segregation… Also, if a student at a private institution is dismissed for any reason, they return to a public school, but their allotted funds remain at the private school.

I am writing in response to the inaccurate column written by Terry Stoops that appeared in the Salisbury Post on April 5, 2026. Yes, NCAE plans a mass demonstration in Raleigh on May 1 in support of Kids Over Corporations. I guess he does not know that legislators are not in their offices on weekends, so it would not be very beneficial to protest then. In fact, they have not been in their offices for weeks and have not done much of a job when they have been there. It is a disgrace that North Carolina is the only state in America that does not yet have a budget for 2026. That in itself is a crime.

NCAE promotes public education for all students, no matter their race, socioeconomic level, ability or disability. The concept of “school choice” and giving vouchers to private institutions is just another method of segregation. Ever since I began teaching in 1973, I have heard “accountability” from every direction, yet there is no accountability for the millions of dollars that have been given in vouchers. You have uncertified teachers, unapproved course outlines and no required testing that could be used for comparison or evaluation of success. Also, if a student at a private institution is dismissed for any reason, they return to a public school, but their allotted funds remain at the private school.

Mr. Stoops specifically says the goal of NCAE leadership is to “undermine the Republican-led General Assembly.” That is true because the Republican-led General Assembly is not following the wishes of the people of North Carolina who elected Governor Josh Stein, Lieutenant Governor Rachel Hunt and Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green. All of these elected officials campaigned in support of public education and Governor Stein’s proposed budget reflects that promise.

Finally, Mr. Stoops makes it sound like teachers are jumping at a chance to miss a day of teaching in order to attend the protest. Having taught in public schools for over 35 years, I can tell you, it is more work for a teacher to be absent from school than it is to be in the classroom. In those years, I had my own child running a fever or throwing up, and me worrying about lesson plans for that day. I have lost family members, attended their funerals and still worried about what “my kids” were doing in class that day. An educator missing class for a day to protest is a last resort to speak up for those they teach.

Read the April 5th article that Bostian responds to at: https://www.salisburypost.com/2026/04/05/ncae-chooses-activism-over-academics-again/