North Carolina’s elected public schools chief says organizers of a May 1 teacher march and rally should reschedule so students won’t miss class because instructors will take off.

Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Mark Johnson said Thursday that he can’t support protests that force schools to close and urged they be held on a non-school day, such as during spring or summer break.

A May 2018 march put on by the North Carolina Association of Educators attracted over 19,000 people. More than three-dozen school districts educating over 1 million public school students canceled class because of it.

It doesn’t sound like NCAE will make changes. President Mark Jewell says the rally is designed to affect pending budget discussion as soon as possible, and that Johnson underestimates the schools’ critical needs.

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