This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Friday November 7, 2025.

According to several screenshots on social media, teachers in various parts of North Carolina are planning on having a tantrum today and call out sick.

They are complaining about everything from a state budget that has not passed to lack of raises for veteran staff members. 

All this is a lie, of course.  According to a search from Perplexity.ai, the most recent North Carolina budget increased public school funding by over $876 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year and $1.2 billion for 2026-27. It also raised beginning teacher pay from $41,000 to $48,000 for the same year and to $50,000 after that. Additional funds were allocated for school construction, transportation, and at-risk student services, but some proposals for further teacher raises were not included in the final "mini-budget" compromise.  But the truth doesn’t really matter for the planned meltdown of North Carolina teachers.

At the same time, men and women in uniform who are putting their lives on the line so teachers can enjoy the freedom of speech to show just how childish they are probably will not get paid because Democrats in the Senate are throwing their own conniption fits.  While the North Carolina Association of Educators denies being behind the movement, neither are they telling their members to stay in school and do their jobs.  Meanwhile, many other government unions are calling for their own members to call out sick as a sign of unity.

The amount of chaos and disruption this will cause students and families will be difficult to measure.  The substitute teacher lists have already been maxed out.  We will have to wait and see if schools across the state will have to shut down – or just muddle dangerously through the day.

As one person stated, teachers - tell us you really don’t care about the kids without saying you really don’t care about the kids. 

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample.  Thanks for listening.