CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is trying to increase pressure upon General Assembly leaders to address an upcoming class-size mandate by providing school districts more money for additional teachers and classrooms.

Cooper visited Friday a Charlotte elementary school, where he urged legislators to take up the issue during a special session next week.

Lawmakers last year delayed the mandates for kindergarten through third grade until next fall. School leaders are worried they’ll have to eliminate art, music and physical education teachers to comply, or raise class sizes in higher grades.

Republicans say they’ve added funds in recent years to lower student-teacher ratios. They’ve also talked about creating a new funding earmark for teachers of so-called “special” subjects but told districts to provide more data on how they spent education funds.

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