Report: NC sees big drop in teacher union membership and union strength
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- North Carolina was ranked 48th in teacher union strength nationally.
- Teacher union membership in North Carolina fell from 49% in 2012 to 21%.
- NCAE reported 26,945 members in 2025 while PENC reported 2,031 members.
The North Carolina Association of Educators has the power to bring thousands of protesters to Raleigh, but a new report also says the state has one of the weakest teacher unions in the nation.
A new report this week from the Fordham Institute ranked North Carolina 48th in teacher union strength nationally out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.. The report found that North Carolina had the second-largest drop in union membership since 2012, dropping from 49% of the state’s teachers to 21%.
The conservative think tank found that teacher union membership has dropped in 45 states and the District of Columbia since its last state-by-state look in 2012.
“Though it may sound fanciful to education reformers in Chicago, where the teacher union is as militant and powerful as ever, overall the data suggest that teacher unions are weaker than they were a decade ago,” according to the report.
NCAE, the state affiliate of the National Education Association, says it’s growing in strength. Tamika Walker Kelly, NCAE president, said the group has added 1,000 new members since its May 1 march in downtown Raleigh.
“Our members are engaged, our campaigns are on the ground, and our voice in the public debate over investing in kids has never been louder,” Walker Kelly said in a statement to The News & Observer. “A think tank report, funded by anti-public-school advocates, using 2021 data, does not define our impact.”
According to a 2025 report from the State Auditor’s Office, NCAE reported 26,945 members and the Professional Educators of North Carolina (PENC) reported 2,031 members. Last year, the leadership of PENC voted to become an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Collective bargaining banned in North Carolina
North Carolina is a right-to-work state, meaning workers can’t be required to join a union. Republican lawmakers may ask voters in November to decide on a ballot measure making this limit on union power part of the state constitution, The N&O previously reported.
Public sector employees are also barred under state law from engaging in collective bargaining and going on strike. That earned North Carolina a rank of dead last on the Fordham Institute report in the area of labor and bargaining policies.
North Carolina was ranked 48th in the report the area of perceived influence. Researchers had asked education leaders and education policy advocates in every state to identify who was the major player in education policies in their state.
“The big takeaway is that they’re still important actors in state education politics,” said Melissa Arnold Lyon, one of the report’s authors, in an interview Wednesday with The N&O. “But they’re not the only actors, and from the perspective of many people, they’re not the primary actors.”
Overall, North Carolina dropped eight spots in teacher union strength from 40th nationally in the 2012 report.
NCAE is often derided by Republican lawmakers who control the General Assembly as being a “far-left teachers union.” But NCAE still enjoys strong support among Democratic lawmakers.
“This report tells you more about North Carolina’s hostility to working people than it does about union organizing,” said Walker Kelly, the NCAE president. “In a state that bans collective bargaining, strips educators of tenure protections, and has spent decades rigging the rules against us, it is no surprise that union organizing is hard.
“What’s surprising is that thousands of educators are doing it anyway. NCAE is one of the fastest-growing NEA affiliates in the nation.”
May 1 rally sign of NCAE power
NCAE exerted its influence in a very public way during the May 1 protest when educators marched for demands that included higher pay and more education funding.
NCAE had encouraged teachers and other school employees to request May 1 off. So many requests came in that at least 22 school districts representing more than 700,000 students opted to close on May 1 or switch to remote learning.
“When educators are organized, we fight for stronger investments and better outcomes for kids — North Carolina’s children deserve nothing less,” Walker Kelly said.
The NEA was part of the coalition of groups that promoted the nationwide May 1 rallies. The North Carolina protest, which organizers said was not a strike, was one of the largest protests nationally on May 1.
“Teacher strikes are desperate events, so teacher strikes are not typically sort of the move of first choice,” said Arnold Lyon, an assistant professor of public policy at the State University of New York at Albany. “Strikes and protests are actions that teachers take on when they feel backed into a corner, and so I think that they can be powerful.”
