Experienced NC teachers unhappy with budget, call small pay raises ‘slap in the face’
North Carolina’s new state budget is promoted as providing teachers with an average pay raise of 7% over the next two years.
But the actual increase will vary wildly.
The budget developed and passed by Republican lawmakers provides the largest pay raises of more than 10% over the next two years to newer teachers. But the raises drop to 3.6% over the next two years for the state’s most experienced teachers — an amount that won’t keep up with inflation.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced last week that he won’t veto the budget. Instead, he’ll let the budget become law without his signature.
Here’s a look at how the raises will play out for teachers.
How are teachers paid in North Carolina?
The state pays the base salaries of teachers. Also, most counties are eligible for a share of a $200 million pot the state provides to supplement salaries. Many counties also provide a local salary supplement.
The state uses a “step” schedule, with each step representing a year of experience.
Under the new state budget, beginning teachers will get a state base salary of $39,000 this school year. Teachers get roughly $1,000 more per year as they move up the initial steps until they’re at $53,060 a year, when they have 15 years of experience.
But the next pay increase in the step schedule doesn’t come until a teacher reaches 25 years of experience. The new budget has those teachers at $55,100 this school year.
The new raises are retroactive to July 1, so they will be paid out in future paychecks.
Senate Republicans say the new budget will increase the average pay for teachers to $60,671 by the 2024-25 school year. That figure includes the money that counties provide to supplement the state pay.
Who gets the biggest pay raises?
Before the new budget, the National Education Association ranked North Carolina 46th in the nation in beginning teacher pay and 34th in average teacher pay. In addition, schools started the school year with more than 3,500 teaching vacancies.
In response, the state budget raises the base salary for beginning teachers from $37,000 last school year to $39,000 this year and $41,000 next school year.
“We’re still putting focus towards our beginning teachers,” Rep. Jeffrey Elmore, a Wilkes County Republican, said during the floor debate. “We’re seeing a real workforce change with our teachers. Our workforce in the classroom is becoming younger, so to attract those employees into it we have focused there on that.”
Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican, said the budget front loads the raises to try to make teacher pay in North Carolina more competitive in the Southeast.
“Starting teacher pay will increase over the biennium by almost 11%, and it will push an almost 15% pay increase after their first two years of teaching,” Lee said during the floor debate.
Lee said that the beginning salary will be $46,000 in the counties that are providing teachers with up to a $5,000 state-funded salary supplement.
Figures from the state legislature’s fiscal research division show that teachers with seven years or less of experience will get raises of more than 10% over the next two years.
How much will experienced teachers get?
Raises will range from 7.8% to 9.7% over the next two years for teachers with between eight and 13 years of experience. It drops to 5.6% over the next two years for teachers with 14 years of experience.
For teachers with 15 years or more of experience, the raise is 3.6% over the next two years.
When adjusted for inflation, teachers with 16 or more years of experience would see their pay fall in the next two years.
Most Democratic lawmakers opposed the budget, saying more could have been done such as giving higher raises to teachers.
“We could double the raises to our teachers,” Rep. Brandon Lofton, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said during the floor debate. “Double the money that we are spending on our teacher raises if we spent the money that we’re spending on private school vouchers and instead put it towards our teacher raises.”
Small raises ‘disgusting’ for veteran teachers
Experienced teachers have been vocal on social media with their frustration about the small raises.
“The lack of appreciation for veteran teachers is disgusting. 3.6%? Smh That’s a great way to thank veterans for 20+ yrs of service,” Renee White, a Wake County teacher, posted on X, formerly called Twitter.
Celia Rowland, a Wake County teacher, complained that she’s not getting anything as a teacher with 28 years of experience.
“I had to start drawing my Social Security in January to make it through a month. And my SS (Social Security) got a 9.5% bump for inflation. #ncleg did me dirty,” Rowland posted on X.
The raises are a “slap in the face,” Wake County school librarian Emily Cole posted on X.
“NC teachers aren’t worth anything to the State government leaders. This is so depressing,” Cole added.
With a heavy dose of sarcasm, Matt Bristow-Smith, the principal of Edgecombe Early College High School in Tarboro, posted on X that his veteran teachers want to thank lawmakers for the 2% raise they’ll get this year.
“They humbly request that future raises at least be pegged to inflation, which averages 3.28 annually and was 8.26% last year,” Bristow-Smith added. “That’s the LEAST we can do to retain our top talent.”
The budget won’t attract new teachers and doesn’t invest in experienced teachers, according to Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.
“Scientific evidence shows that veteran teachers have the biggest impact on student performance, but this budget doesn’t encourage people to stay in the profession when there are no opportunities for growth, Walker Kelly said in a statement. “Instead, we should be rewarding teachers for their experience and the value they bring to their students.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2023 at 5:45 AM with the headline "Experienced NC teachers unhappy with budget, call small pay raises ‘slap in the face’."
