By Amy Cockerham
Public Ed Works

STATESVILLE (February 26, 2026) – Former Iredell County teacher Jennifer Hodges sounds the alarm on growing classroom challenges across North Carolina.

“Legislators need to give schools more money, basically,” Hodges said. “That’s it.” 

Hodges was a teacher for 25 years and retired in August 2024. She taught mostly eighth grade English and social studies in Iredell-Statesville schools, Mooresville Graded, Rowan and Davie counties.

She knows what it’s like to work in a classroom without proper resources, whether it is dealing with lack of supplies, lack of support staff or classrooms overflowing with students.

Hodges recalls spending more than $1,000 of her own money on classroom supplies and decorations each year.

“I just try to do it so kids felt comfortable and welcome in my classroom,” she said. “It really did make a difference, I feel like.”

Hodges said outside of financial challenges, teachers juggle overwhelming workloads as class sizes grow.

“In a larger class size, students can honestly get lost and not get the help that they need or the individual attention,” Hodges said. “It’s impossible for one person to give individual attention to 35+ kids.”

Despite being stretched thin, Hodges described the rewarding moments of her career.

In one case, she provided extra support to a student who came into eighth grade reading at about a second-grade level.

“I had her for corrective reading class, and we saw each other every day,” Hodges said.

“She was just an extra hard worker, and we worked really hard with the program and with building her confidence and making the relationship strong, and she ended up passing her eighth-grade EOG reading test, which she had never done before.”

“She’s grown up to be a beautiful young lady and is very successful, and it’s very nice to hear and see the positive outcomes of your hard work.”

Hodges worries that some students won’t get that same chance because their schools don’t have the funding and time necessary to help them reach their full potential.

“I think it depends on the location of where the student lives, and that’s sad to me,” Hodges said.

“It shouldn’t matter what county you were born in, depending on what kind of resources you have, we should all have the equal or same opportunities to the same resources, but unfortunately, that is not true.”

As lawmakers debate the state budget in the coming months, Hodges said the solution is simple: Invest in schools and the people who make them run.

Hodges now serves as Public Ed Works’ Development Associate.