Gov. Roy Cooper emails teachers across NC to blame lack of pay raises on legislators
Updated Dec. 11, 2019.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is contacting teachers directly with an email sent to school employees across the state blaming legislators for the lack of pay raises this year.
Teachers and school support staff haven’t gotten state pay raises this year as they’ve been caught in the middle of the ongoing budget fight between the Democratic governor and the Republican-led General Assembly. In the email showing up in inboxes Thursday and Friday, Cooper asked school employees to lobby lawmakers to negotiate a compromise with him.
“After legislators adjourned without passing a budget, it’s important for educators to know that the Governor is continuing to fight for meaningful pay raises and for legislators to hear directly from teachers in their communities,” Ford Porter, a spokesman for Cooper, said in a statement Friday.
Republican lawmakers denounced the letter. GOP legislators said the blame for the lack of raises should go to Cooper for vetoing the budget and a mini-budget bill that included school employee raises.
Cooper had vetoed the bills, calling the raises paltry and citing other concerns such as the budget not including Medicaid expansion. He’s asked lawmakers to provide bigger raises.
“My momma taught me: ‘Watch what a man does, and not necessarily what he says,’” Sen. Deanna Ballard, a Watauga County Republican and co-chair of the Senate Education Committee, said in a statement Friday.
“Three times over the past three years Republicans have sent teacher pay raises to the Governor – three times he vetoed them. Gov. Cooper speaks of respecting teachers, but blocking much needed raises doesn’t demonstrate much gratitude for their hard work.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor in 2020, sent his own letter to teachers the day after Cooper’s letter went out. Forest defended GOP lawmakers and accused Cooper of not telling the “true story” about teacher raises.
The $24 billion budget adopted by lawmakers and vetoed by Cooper included, over the next two years, an average 3.9% raise for teachers and a 2% raise for school support staff.
House Republicans were able to override the budget veto in a controversial vote when many Democrats were not present. But Senate Republicans haven’t been able to persuade any Democrats to join them in overriding the veto.
Lawmakers have adjourned for the rest of the year and won’t take up school raises until January at the earliest.
Cooper is up for re-election in 2020, and all legislative seats are up for grabs too.
Gov. Cooper blames lawmakers for lack of teacher pay raises
Geoff Coltrane, Cooper’s senior education advisor, asked the state’s principals on Thursday to share an open letter from the governor with their school staff.
“As we approach the holiday season, I know many of you are concerned about the state of public school teacher and staff pay raises for this school year,” Cooper writes. “I am, too. I know how hard you work every day to ensure the children of our state have a great education and a bright future, and I thank you for that.
“Unfortunately, you haven’t been afforded the respect you deserve in the legislative budget process.”
Cooper tells school employees he vetoed the budget “in pursuit of a better deal for North Carolinians.” He charges that lawmakers are focused on corporate tax cuts instead of investing in public education.
Cooper notes that his compromise budget called for, over two years, an average 8.5% raise for teachers and 5% raise for school support staff.
“I know we can find common ground on a reasonable pay plan for our educators,” Cooper writes. “I encourage you to reach out to your legislators and ask them to negotiate with me around a better pay plan for teachers and non-certified school personnel.
“I am doing my part. Now we need them to do theirs.”
Cooper says he’s willing to negotiate school employee raises separate from the rest of the budget. But GOP lawmakers said Friday that teacher pay is such a large part of the budget that it’s “mathematically impossible” to do so.
“Because the Governor will never sign a budget without Medicaid expansion, the only way for teachers to get a pay raise is for Senate Democrats to override Governor Cooper’s veto,” says the email from Ballard’s office.
This story was originally published December 6, 2019 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Gov. Roy Cooper emails teachers across NC to blame lack of pay raises on legislators."
