NC teachers are getting bonuses but for some, it’ll be less than they expected
All North Carolina public school teachers will get a bonus this year, but for some of those teachers, it will be significantly less than they expected.
Senate Bill 818, signed by Gov. Roy Cooper into law in June, means $350 bonuses will be paid out to the state’s thousands of teachers and instructional support personnel by Oct. 31. But some teachers were already expecting larger bonuses this year, and instead will get the same bonus as everyone else.
The $350 bonuses are being paid out of the state’s General Fund to the Department of Public Instruction instead of the usual bonuses paid annually for those teaching Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate/Cambridge AICE classes; having certain industry certifications and credentials; being a third grade Read to Achieve teacher, or fourth and fifth grade reading teachers; and for being in the fourth to eighth grade math teachers bonus program.
Bonuses ‘a divisive issue’
Jason Ward, a high school science teacher in Davie County, falls under the group of AP teachers who will get a smaller bonus than they expected. Ward found out about it when his principal forwarded an email from the state Department of Instruction recently.
Ward teaches AP Earth along with other science classes at Davie County High School. AP teachers usually get annual bonuses based on student performance on AP tests.
He understands the reasoning, but was still surprised. He taught AP Earth last fall, so he expected to receive the AP teaching bonus in January, as he had previously. Finding out from the state this summer about the $350 flat bonus for everyone was disappointing, he said, even though he understands why.
In an email from DPI, affected teachers were told that “based on recent NCGA legislation, Session Law 2020-45, SB 818, the teacher performance bonus pay has been repurposed for the coming year. The $37.8 million will be used for the $350 bonus for all teachers in the upcoming year.... “
Pat Ryan, spokesperson for Senate leader Phil Berger, said because so many of the tests that determine the performance bonuses were either changed or waived, like End of Year tests, known as EOGs, there was no way to measure and determine across the board who should get the bonuses. Instead of trying to parse out each bonus, he said, the “the fairest thing to do is to divvy up the existing pot of bonuses and give them to everybody.”
Teacher bonuses are already a divisive issue in schools, said Ward, the high school teacher. He would rather that all teachers received higher pay rather than giving bonus incentives for some teachers but not others.
“I’m not coming at this as ‘woe is me.’ I’m not complaining. But this comes in a year when it was really tough to be a teacher,” he said.
“I can completely see why they did this because a lot of these programs rely on testing data,” he said in a phone interview with The News & Observer on Monday.
In Davie County, where Ward teaches, the schools are reopening at half capacity, with students rotating between in-classroom and at-home virtual learning. That means custodians and other support personnel are back at school, too.
“For them not to receive that money as well is a slap in the face,” he said.
While teachers and instructional assistants will receive the bonuses, the lack of bonuses for support personnel was part of the legislative debate.
Democrats wanted more
“I’m really taken aback by the fact that we are not doing anything for our non-certified personnel in this bill,” House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson of Wake County said in June.
House Speaker Tim Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican, told The N&O in June that the money was what they believed they could afford.
“Look at the people who don’t have a job right now. We want to do all we can. We’re now facing one the greatest financial crises of our lifetime, certainly the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. The fact that we can do any kind of bonus is amazing,” Moore said then.
The bill passed both chambers with bipartisan support, though several Democrats said that teachers deserved more money as well as the non-certified personnel.
The bonuses are to reward more teachers for being good teachers, said Ryan, Berger’s spokesperson. Instead of talking about cutting teacher pay or layoffs during the coronavirus pandemic, he said, they’re able to talk about extra money for teachers, crediting the Republican-led budget.
Teachers also received step-increase raises in the bonuses bill.
Teacher raises across the board last year stalled out amid the 2019 budget battle, with Democrat Cooper vetoing a Republican-led teacher raises bill in January because he didn’t think they were high enough.
Thousands of teachers marched in downtown Raleigh in 2018 and 2019 for, among other things, increased pay.
When Cooper signed the step-increase and bonus bill in late June, he said “it falls outrageously short on raises we need to give teachers and all school personnel like bus drivers and cafeteria workers.” Cooper said educator pay should be a top priority when the General Assembly returns on Sept. 2.
The school year starts Aug. 17, with a majority of the state’s public schools starting the year with virtual learning.
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This story was originally published August 3, 2020 at 6:02 PM with the headline "NC teachers are getting bonuses but for some, it’ll be less than they expected."
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