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Tag: Teacher pay

  • CMS says developers will set aside up to 25 new homes for district teachers to buy

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    Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has launched an effort to provide affordable housing for educators, including a recent announcement that developers are setting aside up to 25 homes for teachers. In this 2025 file photo, CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill visits a classroom during the first day of school.

    Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has launched an effort to provide affordable housing for educators, including a recent announcement that developers are setting aside up to 25 homes for teachers. In this 2025 file photo, CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill visits a classroom during the first day of school.


    KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH

    Knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com

    A local development group is setting aside up to 25 newly built homes for teachers in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools as part of the district’s plan to make homeownership more affordable.

    CMS is working with Kingdom Development Partners and Ascension Community Development Corporation to provide free financial literacy training to CMS educators and discounted rates on new homes in northwest and northeast Charlotte, CMS announced Friday.

    It’s part of a wider effort the school district launched in 2024 called “At Home in CMS,” aimed at making housing costs more affordable for teachers, through rental discounts, pathways to homeownership and financial literacy resources.

    “One of the top concerns we hear from educators is that homeownership feels out of reach,” said CMS Chief of Recruitment, Retention and Talent Development Nancy Brightwell. “This partnership is about education, support and real opportunities that make homeownership attainable.”

    Through the latest initiative, CMS educators who complete a yearlong training program through Ascension on skills such as credit counseling, budgeting, home maintenance and wealth building may be eligible to purchase one of Ascension’s newly constructed homes set aside specifically for CMS teachers.

    At least ten homes will be reserved at Legacy at Neal Road in northeast Charlotte and five at Legacy at Paw Creek in northwest Charlotte. Additional homes will likely be set aside for CMS teachers in the future, a news release said.

    “Our goal is to create attainable homeownership opportunities that support long-term stability and wealth building,” said James Scruggs, founder of Ascension CDC and CEO of Kingdom Development Partners. “We are proud to intentionally prioritize those who serve our community every day.”

    Affordability challenges in CMS

    Educator pay is a critical part of home affordability and remains a hot topic in North Carolina: the state legislature still has not approved a budget for this fiscal year, leaving teachers and other state employees without a raise.

    This school year, starting teachers in CMS – a group which includes educators in their first three years in the district – will make $48,943.

    North Carolina ranks 43rd in the nation for teacher pay, lagging behind neighboring states like South Carolina and Virginia. The Education Law Center recently ranked North Carolina at the bottom nationally in state funding for schools. Teachers around the state, including in CMS, called out of work in protest Jan. 7, calling for higher state investment in public education.

    Educator pay in North Carolina is made of two main elements: the state base salary and the district supplement. The supplement is county-funded and added onto what the state provides in order to bring salaries closer to a living wage. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill said in December that she plans to propose a 5% increase to teacher supplements this year, just as she has the past budget cycles. If approved, it would increase starting teacher pay in CMS by $398.

    The living wage in Mecklenburg County for a single, childless adult is currently $55,307, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. With the current CMS pay scale, teachers do not surpass that benchmark until their 10th year in the district. Under the state’s pay schedule, with no county supplement, teachers would not reach that benchmark until their 25th year.

    In 2024, CMS announced plans to construct up to four “teacher villages,” comprising one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for CMS educators at prices they can afford on land the district already owns. The first complex was initially projected to open in 2027, with 100 units.

    Reactions to the proposal were mixed, with many teachers frustrated at the need for affordable teacher housing in the first place. Meanwhile, district leaders said they’re searching for creative ways to attract and keep good teachers with the tools they have available.

    This story was originally published February 22, 2026 at 5:00 AM.

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    Rebecca Noel

    The Charlotte Observer

    Rebecca Noel reports on education for The Charlotte Observer. She’s a native of Houston, Texas, and graduated from Rice University. She later received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. When she’s not reporting, she enjoys reading, running and frequenting coffee shops around Charlotte.

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  • What GOP budget writer says about taxes, economic security & more in NC primary

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    Remember to cast your vote in the November election.

    Remember to cast your vote in the November election.

    To help voters learn which candidates are on their ballot and where they stand on important policy issues, The News & Observer is publishing candidate questionnaires in all state and federal races in North Carolina on the March 3, 2026, ballot.

    Below are the candidates running for NC House District 110 who responded to our questionnaire, in order by the date their responses were received. Not all candidates submitted a photo. The district includes Cleveland and Gaston counties.

    The incumbent is Republican Rep. Kelly Hastings. He is being challenged by Caroline Eason, who did not respond. Hastings’ answers are below.

    Kelly Hastings

    Age as of March 3, 2026: 64

    Political party: Republican

    Campaign website: www.kellyhastings.com

    Current occupation: Realtor and legislator

    Professional experience: I am a Realtor and current member of the General Assembly.

    Education: Bachelor of Science – Appalachian State University; graduate certificate in teaching – UNC Charlotte

    Please list any notable government or civic involvement: I am currently a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. I chair the Higher Education and Appropriations, Capital and Information Technology committees.

    What is the most important issue in your district and what do you want to do about it? Economic security is a very important issue. I am part of the team, starting in 2011, that makes North Carolina No. 1 for business and No. 1 for workforce development. I plan to continue to build on these successes to help people achieve economic security.

    The legislature sets teacher base pay. What do you think the salary range should be for teachers, from starting to 30+ experience? Since 2012, we have passed numerous pay raises for teachers and state employees, and we cut taxes for everyone in the public and private sectors. Continuing with salary increments, bonus supplements, incremental steps, supplement assistance allotments, and great health benefits, retirement benefits, and other benefits will help us as we strive to be the best in the country.

    As of January, North Carolina was the last state not to have passed a new, comprehensive budget. What would you do to help make sure a budget passes? We have a budget in North Carolina, and we continually pass budgetary and finance provisions. Striving to remain fiscally conservative will help us as we continue to adjust our budgets and balance our budgets.

    North Carolina’s income tax rate for individual taxpayers is 3.99%. Should that be reduced further? I support tax cuts and balanced budgets. Under current law, taxes will be even lower if certain revenue targets are met.

    Do you think the state is using taxpayer money efficiently? Why or why not? We are cutting taxes, balancing budgets, reducing debt, working to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and we are maintaining our AAA bond rating. We are striving to be as efficient as possible.

    Do you support legalizing medical marijuana use? Why or why not? Based on the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, marijuana will continue to be illegal if it is illegal at the federal level.

    What do you see as the biggest barrier to health care access in your district, and what actions would you take to address it? Obamacare cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicare. This caused many doctors to withdraw from practicing, and this caused care to be scarce. To help with accessibility and care, we must continue to strive to enhance opportunities for education in all areas of health care, including medicine, dentistry, nursing, etc. This, in turn, could help with affordability also.

    Related Stories from Raleigh News & Observer

    Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan

    The News & Observer

    Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan is the Capitol Bureau Chief for The News & Observer, leading coverage of the legislative and executive branches in North Carolina with a focus on the governor, General Assembly leadership and state budget. She has received the McClatchy President’s Award, N.C. Open Government Coalition Sunshine Award and several North Carolina Press Association awards, including for politics and investigative reporting.

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  • Hundreds of NC teachers are calling out and protesting. Here’s what they want.

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    Hundreds of North Carolina teachers called out of work Wednesday morning to participate in protests urging state leaders to provide more money for public education.

    Hundreds of North Carolina teachers called out of work Wednesday morning to participate in protests urging state leaders to provide more money for public education.


    Travis Long

    tlong@newsobserver.com

    CARY

    Hundreds of North Carolina teachers called out of work on Wednesday to participate in protests urging state leaders to provide more money for public education.

    Leaders of NC Teachers in Action say 650 to 750 educators at 52 schools, including 30 in Wake County, 15 in New Hanover County, five in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and two in Gaston County, demonstrated at intersections from Wilmington to just outside of Gastonia.

    Teachers held signs and chanted that the state isn’t doing enough to support public schools, citing data such as how the state has low national rankings on teacher pay and school funding.

    “We want everybody to understand that this is a true problem that we are in right now, and something’s got to change,” Jennilee Lloyd, a Wake County teacher and a leader in NC Teachers in Action, said in a December interview.

    Some of the protests were walk-ins, meaning teachers held them before classes started or plan to after classes end to not disrupt the school day.

    But NC Teachers in Action said most of the protests are walkouts with teachers and instructional assistants using a personal day or sick day. The absence of so many educators caused some schools to bring in substitute teachers and make other changes to the schedule.

    Group wants higher teacher pay

    NC Teachers in Action was formed after an anonymous social media post went viral and caused some teachers to call out of work in November.

    NC Teachers in Action lists several actions it wants the state to take as reasons for a walkout, including:

    • Restore longevity pay, a benefit the state used to provide to reward teachers for their years of service.
    • Unfreeze step increases. Teachers with 16 to 24 years of experience no longer get an automatic annual pay raise under the state’s salary schedule.
    • Restore master’s pay, a benefit the state used to pay that boosted teacher salaries by 10% a year.
    • Restore retiree health coverage. State employees and teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2021, don’t get health benefits from the state when they retire
    • Fully fund the Leandro plan, a multibillion-dollar plan to increase school funding to try to provide every student with highly qualified teachers and principals.
    • Cap health insurance premiums at a time when State Health Plan costs are rising.

    North Carolina ranks 43rd in the nation in average teacher pay, according to the National Education Association. The Education Law Center recently ranked North Carolina at the bottom nationally in state funding for schools.

    “I don’t know if anything will come of this, honestly,” said Caitlyn Dowell, a Wake County teacher and a leader of NC Teachers in Action. “It’s hard to say that legislators will listen to us.”

    Teachers making ‘ransom demands’

    Many of the benefits teachers want restored were eliminated as part of education changes made since Republicans gained the majority in the state legislature after the 2010 election. Republicans have made expanding school choice a priority, including easing rules on charter school expansion and opening up the state’s private school voucher program to all families.

    GOP legislative leaders are fighting the Leandro plan, arguing that only the legislature and not the courts can order the spending of state money.

    “I love how you look at the ransom demands for these teachers and it’s like ‘unconstitutionally spend billions of dollars and stop rewarding merit-based raises’ lmao,” Matt Mercer, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Republican Party, said in a post Tuesday on X.

    Wednesday won’t be the last protest organized by NC Teachers In Action, The next two scheduled protests, on Feb. 7 and March 7, are on Saturdays.

    An April 7 protest is planned for when the General Assembly is expected to be in Raleigh. April 7 is a school day.

    “We will continue to fight for what we feel is the right thing to do,” said Brandy Sanders, a Wake County teacher and a leader of NC Teachers in Action.

    Related Stories from Charlotte Observer

    T. Keung Hui

    The News & Observer

    T. Keung Hui has covered K-12 education for the News & Observer since 1999, helping parents, students, school employees and the community understand the vital role education plays in North Carolina. His primary focus is Wake County, but he also covers statewide education issues.

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    T. Keung Hui

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  • Wake school board approves budget while waiting for state raises

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    The Wake school board approved more than $13 million in adjustments to its more than $2.2 billion budget Tuesday night, 7-0. Board Member Cheryl Caulfield was absent.

    The changes include money for higher-than-expected utility and academic costs, based on nearly equivalent savings so far this year.

    It doesn’t include any new teacher raises because the state hasn’t passed a new budget that includes any.

    It also didn’t include major investments in maintenance and operations, a department that’s struggling to address the smaller and more routine maintenance issues that are higher in number than the bigger issues that are prioritized.

    “We’re spending only three-quarters of what the industry says we need to be spending… to maintain the facilities we manage,” Board Chairman Chris Heagarty said.

    By once again not following the recommendations of its five-year maintenance plan, Heagarty said the plan will now be nine years.

    The lack of a state budget has put on pause some of school districts’ plans for their budgets this year, but not all.

    The Wake County school board already approved more than $18 million in budget cuts for this year in an interim budget passed this summer, including the elimination of 10 digital learning coordinators, some secretarial jobs, some unfilled social worker and counselor positions, and other expenses. It also included raising air conditioning set points by one degree and lowering heating set points by one degree — a measure undertaken during the tight budget of the Great Recession, as well.

    Those moves were in part so the district could afford to open four new schools next year and pay for expected increases to salary and benefits from the state.

    Little increase in maintenance funding

    The years of deferred maintenance spending are because the school board has time and again rejected recommendations for maintenance funding in favor of other hiring and raises, Heagarty said.

    “I don’t think anyone will fault us for money we put into he classrooms, money spent supporting teachers and students, but the working conditions in our buildings also support students,” Heagarty said.

    Other board members on Tuesday urged the district to find ways to address the smaller maintenance issues that are visible every day to students and families but are waiting a month or longer to be addressed, according to district data.

    The district has further prioritized bigger maintenance issues, leading to improvements in fix times for them, but worse fix times for smaller issues. Unlike in recent years, the district has only closed one school so far this year because of an air conditioning issue. That reflect the district’s work but also cooler temperatures putting less stress on HVAC equipment, Superintendent Robert Taylor said.

    “We have to do something different, we have to be more aggressive toward it and change what we’re dealing with here, to keep recruitment up, to keep people coming to the schools,” Board Member Toshiba Rice said.

    Planning without a state budget

    This spring, Wake County Public School System officials estimated more than $60 million in new expenses next year, without increasing any programming, aside from opening the new schools. That was because they expected employee salaries and benefits to go up. When the state increases pay, benefit costs can increase, and individual school systems must raise pay for locally funded employees to match the pay of state-funded employees.

    Wake County commissioners approved giving the school system more than $40 million in additional funding to help cover the expected costs, requiring the district to find things to cut to make up the difference.

    Teachers and many other, but not all, school employees received step increases in a mini budget passed earlier this fall. Those are the pay increases that come with another year of service to state employment, typically totaling less than $1,000.

    Teachers will also pay more come January for the state health plan, which for the first time introduced a system of premiums based on pay. In Wake County, 84% of employees’ premiums went up, and some, especially higher-experienced teachers who aren’t eligible for step increases — will see shrinking take-home pay in January.

    The district wants to use about $13.2 million in unexpected savings so far this year to cover utilities and academic and literacy help for students that largely represents unexpected costs incurred for those programs. For example, a change to federal funding rules is prompting a plan to use $1.8 million for literacy coaches, and a drop in state funding is prompting a plan to use another $1.8 million for career and technical education programs.

    The $13.6 million in unexpected savings could cover the unexpected losses, but it wouldn’t come close to covering the $34.7 million in increased compensation that the board had anticipated from the state. The board expected a 3% increase in base salary for staff from the state budget, but a mini-budget for the state authorized only a step increase for an additional year of experience, rather than changing base pay. The step increase represents a raise for each teacher of less than 1%.

    The school board also planned this spring to increase the salary supplement for educators by 1.5%, which would cost about $2.8 million and amount to additional pay of between $110 and $210 for the entire year for a teacher.

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  • DC region could be doing more to attract, retain teachers for most vulnerable students, report finds – WTOP News

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    The D.C. region could be doing more to attract and retain special education and English language learner teachers, according to a new analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality.

    The D.C. region could be doing more to attract and retain special education and English language teachers, according to a new analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality.

    The report found that Hawaii is the only state that pays special education teachers enough to “make a meaningful difference” in attracting new educators into the classroom.

    In the D.C. area, Heather Peske, the council’s president, said incentives are critical, because D.C. and Maryland are in the top 10 jurisdictions with the highest proportion of English language learning students.

    Broadly, “the stakes are really high right now,” Peske said.

    “We see chronic shortages of special education and English learner teachers, and this means that students miss out on the effective instruction they need,” she said. “What we see in the data is that students with disabilities and English learners face persistent and troubling academic disparities, because we’re not giving them enough access to effective teachers.”

    The report considered different factors — including compensation, financial incentives such as loan forgiveness and licensure tests — to determine how districts could attract and retain teachers.

    D.C. is offering strong professional learning to English learner and special education teachers, Peske said. However, the city “could be doing much more when it comes to offering financial incentives.”

    Maryland, she said, does a good job of providing specific standards for teacher and principal preparation programs, but similarly falls short for providing financial incentives. Virginia, according to Peske, does well in providing standards and expectations for teacher and principal preparation.

    “D.C., Maryland and Virginia all could be doing much more when it comes to offering financial incentives, differentiated pay, for example, for teachers of English learners and teachers who teach special education,” Peske said.

    Offering more money or a loan forgiveness program helps to boost the number of teachers that can be drawn to a district or state, Peske said.

    Stronger preparation programs, compensation and other financial incentives can help states “really tackle persistent special ed and English language teacher vacancies,” Peske said.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Montgomery Co. Public Schools employee pay issues continue as administrator union complains of overwhelming HR work – WTOP News

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    Some Montgomery County Public Schools employees are continuing to report pay issues despite the district’s repeated assurances that problems would be resolved.

    This article was written by WTOP’s news partner Bethesda Today and republished with permission. Sign up for Bethesda Today’s free email subscription today.

    Some Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) employees are continuing to report pay issues despite the district’s repeated assurances that problems would be resolved, while the union representing MCPS administrators is complaining of unsustainable workloads for human resources employees, according to employees and Thursday’s county school board meeting.

    MCPS spokesperson Liliana López told Bethesda Today on Thursday that “everyone has been accounted for and that everyone will be paid on Friday.” Read more at BethesdaMagazine.com.

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    Jessica Kronzer

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  • In HISD , It Looks Like Money Talks as Regards Teacher Retention

    In HISD , It Looks Like Money Talks as Regards Teacher Retention

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    In a Monday press release that the district was clearly happy to generate, Houston ISD administrators today announced that the majority of their teachers say they are staying for the 2024-25 academic year.  How much of that depends upon the higher salaries for  teachers at the New Education System schools is anyone’s guess.

    Salaries for high school NES teachers, for example, start at $82,816, and go up to $88,816 for a teacher with five or more years of experience, the press release stated. NES schools also receive more support and lesson plans generated by Central Office — something that has received both accolades and complaints.

    As part of an annual survey, HISD asks teachers what they plan to do for the next school year. Of the 93 percent of HISD teachers, or 10,230 teachers, who responded this year, 96 percent said they want to continue teaching in HISD. According to HISD this was a higher number of respondents than previous years.

    Also, 97 percent of teachers who work at a NES school with its more structured day and constant testing, campus want to stay in the NES. Of the teachers at non-NES schools that will be part of the NES system in the fall, 90 percent want to stay at the same campus.

    In addition,14 percent of teachers who work at a non-NES school want to transfer to an NES campus, the district says. Superintendent Mike Miles installed the system at the beginning of this school year at a select number of schools and has greatly expanded it for next year.

    “These numbers clearly show our teachers are dedicated to their students and want to be a part of the most important transformation effort in the country,” said  Miles. “We’ve said that HISD is building an elite team. As part of the survey, we shared our new Employee Value Proposition that outlines why the District is a uniquely great place to work and what we expect from our employees. The 96 percent of teachers who want to stay in HISD see what we offer that other districts don’t.”

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    Margaret Downing

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  • Durham Public School Board meets with educators as pay dispute continues

    Durham Public School Board meets with educators as pay dispute continues

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    DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — Hours of discussion led to very little progress at the board of education meeting in Durham.

    The meeting comes amid the ongoing pay dispute among Durham Public Schools staff. Several people walked out of Thursday night’s meeting with the new interim superintendent and the board as they tried to figure out the next steps.

    After several callouts, protests, and demands for fair pay, district leaders now believe they are headed in a better direction.

    They say they are hoping a deal could be reached by as early as next week.

    On Wednesday new interim Superintendent Catty Moore spoke with the media for the first time and said this is definitely a temporary role but is ready to get DPS back on track.

    She says the larger pay issue isn’t something other districts haven’t seen and hopes they can reach a longer-term solution so the district doesn’t hit a breaking point again.

    There are also a lot of questions about the $300,000 payout to former Superintendent Mubenga and the almost equivalent $25,000 a month she is making and how this will impact the budget and outcome.

    “And so I think the dollars are there, that’s a discussion with the board, and you know we arrived at something that was doable and commensurate with what the previous superintendent was doing, and so I think that would be expected.,” Moore said.

    DPS Board Chair Bettina Umstead was hoping for a breakthrough insisting they’re moving as quickly as possible.

    “It’s about our students, it’s about our families, it’s about the whole Durham community counting on all of us and all of us have to come together to make that real, so I’m just asking for that two-way street,” she said.

    Much of the meeting Thursday devolved into who would be on the other end of that two-way street, with the Durham Association of Educators (DAE) leading the charge.

    Another group of transportation staff, who led the callouts that led to school closures, walked out of the meeting saying DAE doesn’t represent them.

    “There’s a lot of issues that are going on in our department and as a whole as well, but we felt like we were unheard and we were disrespected we didn’t have a seat at the table and we were promised a seat at the table,” said Assistant Area Manager, Transportation Kitora Mason.

    After watching staff members walk out, and the DAE’s refusal to disclose how many members they actually have, the board voted to create a compromise. A new work group will be named starting at next week’s board meeting, made up of two board members, two administrators, and eight DPS staff members that will be split. Four will be selected by the DAE and 4 others.

    Union leaders told ABC11 that despite the walkouts, they’re hoping this new group can move things forward.

    “We have and will continue to reach out to every sector of DPS cafeteria workers, classroom teachers, transportation, counselors, the whole gamut,” said Durham Association of Educators President Symone Kiddoo.

    The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 22 where the board will decide who will serve on the new working group that will meet every week.

    Copyright © 2024 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.

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  • Arkansas governor recommends school funding increase

    Arkansas governor recommends school funding increase

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    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday recommended that lawmakers increase public school funding by $550 million over the next two years to raise teacher pay, as the Republican prepares to leave office in January.

    Hutchinson presented his budget recommendations to a legislative panel days after Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders was elected the state’s next governor. Hutchinson, who was barred by term limits from seeking reelection, acknowledged that the decision on the budget will be up to the Legislature and Sanders next year.

    Hutchinson said his funding proposal “allows the next administration and the General Assembly maximum flexibility in terms of raising teacher salaries and raising the outcomes for education in the state.”

    The proposal calls for increasing public school funding by $200 million in the fiscal year that begins July 2023 and by $350 million the following year.

    Hutchinson earlier this year called on lawmakers to raise teacher pay, but decided against putting it on the agenda for a special session in August due to a lack of support in the majority-Republican Legislature.

    The House and Senate education committees have since endorsed proposals to give teachers $4,000 raises, though they differ on when the raises should be granted.

    Sanders, who announced her transition team on Thursday, stopped short of saying whether she agreed with Hutchinson’s budget recommendation.

    “Governor-elect Sanders looks forward to continued conversations with the governor and her legislative partners during the transition as she works to develop a budget that makes government lean and efficient, cuts taxes, and prioritizes the promises she made to Arkansans to make our state one of the best to live, work, and raise a family,” Sanders spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.

    Hutchinson recommended the state’s overall budget increase by 5% to $6.3 billion in the next fiscal year. The budget proposal projects the state will end that year with a nearly $255 million surplus.

    Hutchinson, who has clashed with the Legislature in recent years on issues such as a ban on transgender medical care and COVID-19 restrictions, alluded to the at-times rocky relationship as he addressed lawmakers.

    “When iron strikes iron, what do you get? You get a few sparks,” Hutchinson said, referring to a Bible passage. “But you also get a sharper outcome, and I believe our relationship has reflected that scriptural principle.”

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  • Top Iran official warns against protests amid serious unrest

    Top Iran official warns against protests amid serious unrest

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that protests over the death of a young woman in police custody could destabilize the country and urged security forces to deal harshly with those he claimed endanger public order, as countrywide unrest entered its third week.

    Scattered anti-government protests appeared to break out in Tehran and running clashes with security forces in other towns, social media reports showed on Sunday, even as the government has moved to block, partly or entirely, internet connectivity in Iran.

    Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf told lawmakers that unlike the current protests, which he said aim to topple the government, previous demonstrations by teachers and retirees over pay were aimed at reforms, according to the legislative body’s website.

    “The important point of the (past) protests was that they were reform-seeking and not aimed at overthrowing” the system, said Qalibaf. “I ask all who have any (reasons to) protest not to allow their protest to turn into destabilizing and toppling” of institutions.

    Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets over the last two weeks to protest the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who had been detained by Iran’s morality police in the capital of Tehran for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s strict Islamic dress code.

    The protesters have vented their anger over the treatment of women and wider repression in the Islamic Republic. The nationwide demonstrations rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the clerical establishment that has ruled Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

    Iranian state TV has reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the demonstrations began Sept. 17. An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 14 dead, with more than 1,500 demonstrators arrested.

    Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker, is a former influential commander in the paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard. Along with the president and the head of the judiciary, he is one of three ranking officials who deal with all important issues of the nation.

    The three meet regularly and sometimes meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters.

    Qalibaf said he believes many of those taking part in recent protests had no intention of seeking to overthrow the government in the beginning and claimed foreign-based opposition groups were fomenting protests aimed at tearing down the system. Iranian authorities have not presented evidence for their allegations of foreign involvement in the protests.

    “Creating chaos in the streets will weaken social integrity, jeopardizing the economy while increasing pressure and sanctions by the enemy,” he said, referring to longstanding crippling U.S. sanctions on Iran.

    Qalibaf promised to “amend the structures and methods of the morality police” to prevent a recurrence of what happened to Amini. The young woman died in the custody of the morality police. Her family alleged she was beaten, while officials claim she died of a heart attack.

    His remarks came after a closed meeting of Parliament and a brief rally by lawmakers to voice support for Khamenei and the police, chanting “death to hypocrites,” a reference to Iranian opposition groups.

    The statement by Qalibaf is seen as an appeal to Iranians to stop their protests while supporting police and the security apparatus.

    Meanwhile, the hard-line Kayhan daily said Sunday that knife-carrying protesters attacked the newspaper building Saturday and shattered windows with rocks. It said they left when Guard members were deployed to the site.

    On Saturday, protests continued on the Tehran University campus and in nearby neighborhoods and witnesses said they saw many young girls waving their head scarves above their heads in a gesture of defiance. Social media carried videos purportedly showing similar protests at the Mashhad and Shiraz universities but The Associated Press could not independently verify their authenticity.

    A protester near Tehran University, 19-year-old Fatemeh who only gave her first name for fear of repercussions, said she joined the demonstration “to stop this behavior by police against younger people especially girls.”

    Abdolali, a 63-year-old teacher who also declined to give his last name, said he was shot twice in the foot by police. He said: “I am here to accompany and support my daughter. I once participated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that promised justice and freedom; it is time to materialize them.”

    Protests resumed in several cities including Mashhad and Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University on Sunday, according to social media reports. Witnesses said security was tight in the areas nearby Tehran University and its neighborhoods downtown as hundreds of anti-riot police and plain clothes with their cars and motorbikes were stationed on junctions and squares. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the reports.

    Also on Sunday, media outlets reported the death of another Revolutionary Guard member in the southeastern city of Zahedan. That brought to five the number of IRG members killed in an attack on a police station by gunmen that, according to state media, left 19 people dead.

    It wasn’t clear if the attack, which Iranian authorities said was carried out by separatists, was related to the anti-government protests.

    Local media said a police officer also had died in the Kurdish city of Marivan, following injuries during clashes with protesters. The protests have drawn supporters from various ethnic groups, including Kurdish opposition movements in the northwest of Iran that operate along the border with neighboring Iraq. 22-year-old Amini was an Iranian Kurd and the protests first erupted in Kurdish areas.

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