vetoes were overridden by the General Assembly in September 2013, meaning that both bills became law. In June 2014, McCrory vetoed a bill because of a provision altering the makeup of the Division of Employment Security Board of Review. On May 28, 2015, McCrory vetoed a bill that would have allowed magistrates with religious objections to refuse to perform same-sex marriages. The next day, McCrory vetoed a variation on an "ag-gag" bill. Both of these vetoes were overridden by the legislature. Education McCrory signed the largest education budgets in North Carolina history in 2013 and 2015. A number of education changes were included in the state budget enacted in 2013 and 2016. McCrory supports merit-based pay in some cases. McCrory entered office in 2013 with teacher pay ranked 47th in the nation, and by 2016, the state's ranking moved up 41st in the nation. McCrory signed the largest teacher pay raise in the nation in 2016, which led to average teacher pay rising to $50,000 per year. The rankings for year 2017 will account for the 2016 pay raises. Those yet-to-be-released rankings are expected to move North Carolina up several slots. School districts are authorized to give $500-per-year raises to up to 25% of teachers. Low-income students are now eligible to receive vouchers up to $4,200 toward the cost of attending private schools. Teacher tenure has been replaced with a contract system. State funding for Teach for America has been increased to $6 million. In a nationally broadcast radio interview with conservative talk-show host William Bennett, McCrory made a series of comments on the future of higher education in North Carolina that generated controversy. McCrory stated that "some of the educational elite have taken over our education where we are offering courses that have no chance of getting people jobs," and later responded to a comment Bennett made on gender studies courses by saying: "That's a subsidized course. If you want to take gender studies, that's fine, go to a private school and take it. But I don't want to subsidize that if that's not going to get someone a job." "Moral Mondays" protests Several bills signed into law by McCrory and multiple pieces of proposed legislation were the target of ongoing "Moral Monday" civil disobedience protests during his tenure, organized in part by local religious leaders including William Barber II, head of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP