As I  sat down to write this column I thought a lot about what I would write. I thought about whether my focus would be on the positives and negatives of the recent budget bill or just the impact it has on teachers in general. I chose to do both

The 2023-25 biennium is probably one of the most lopsided budgets I have seen since moving to North Carolina in 2007. When the original budget proposals were released the House’s budget offered some hope to both education choice and teachers. The original 8% increase laid out in their budget was divided for the full scale of teachers, it raised starting teacher salaries and gave increases to recognize teachers who have stuck with the profession. 

t also restored graduate pay that was taken away in 2013. On top of all that, it funded the rural county supplements, expanded funding for nurses, social workers, school security and safety, and fully funded numerous other areas. On top of all of that, it also expanded School Choice for more families throughout NC. Finally, it also lowered our income tax to the lowest levels in more than a generation. All of this and still maintained a huge rainy day fund. It looked as if the supermajority actually understood that if they want to keep it they have to help the largest voting block in the state, state employees.

hen you have the Senate Budget. It was horrendous, gave next to nothing in pay raises, did not fully fund multiple initiatives, did not restore graduate pay to teachers, and did nothing for teachers within the 10+ year range. Full disclosure I fall in that category with 17 years of experience. There were a few positives in the Senate's version, it expanded school choice, it kept funding for the rural district supplements and it all but eliminated our state's income tax. The differences between the two were something unlike what I have seen in my almost 17 years of living here and following NC Politics. 

The final budget came out of nowhere and did not do much to appeal to veteran teachers. It did expand the Opportunity Scholarship, increase beginning teacher pay, fund innovative ideas for ECU and other universities, fund the rural supplement, expand funding for nurses and social workers, and provide a path to eliminate the state income tax within the decade. The leaders patted themselves on the back and did a victory lap, they had completed a budget, mind you it was almost 3 months late, but they had done it and increased the rainy day fund even more. 

When I began to dive into the budget, I was shocked. I was shocked because it did nothing to address the teacher shortage by making the profession attractive to stay in. When I began teaching in 2006 here in North Carolina, the starting salary for teachers was $24000 a year. I will say that I knew I would never be a millionaire or make tons of money as an educator but I thought by now in my career I would see some increase in my dedication to staying in the profession.

This budget raised starting teacher pay to $41000 by next school year. It took teachers at my end of the scale the better part of 10 years to reach that amount. If you look at our salaries now,  teachers in the 15-25 range have seen less than  $10,000 increase in the past decade. In fact, if you adjust for inflation, throughout my entire career I would have only seen a 2-3% increase. I am an exception to most as I have a graduate degree that I get paid for since I earned it before it was taken away from us. This budget is an insult to veteran teachers. It tells those at the far end of the scale “Thanks for sticking around, but we really don’t appreciate your hard work.”, I am not being flippant when I say that, if you survey the average teacher with 15+ years of experience you will get that feeling from them. Teachers in the 20-25 camp are even more likely to feel left out and forgotten. To most of us, it almost seems that there is a concentrated effort to get the most experienced teachers to find their way out of the profession. 

When you top off the insulting pay increase of less than $200 a month before taxes and the inclusion of this new idea of creating teacher leader positions or “advanced” teaching roles you can see what has angered experienced teachers. The idea looks great on paper, we are going to create these new positions to allow upward mobility for teachers but in the end, it creates competition when we really should be focused on a team effort to recover from the pandemic and it pits rural counties vs. larger counties who can offer more. While the rural supplement has shown an attempt to level the playing field there is a long way to go. These proposed new advanced teaching rules will be next to impossible to create enough of them in small districts. These new roles are not an adequate replacement for teachers who spent time and money to earn a graduate degree.

The fact that 10 years later we are still fighting to restore a common sense element to our state teacher salary is ridiculous. Our leaders think that adding aid for those seeking the National Board Certification is a realistic replacement for graduate degree study is beyond misguided. While nationally board-certified teachers are teachers who show amazing skills, there are hundreds of teachers who have not achieved those initials but are still some of the best teachers in their districts and they are not recognized financially for their efforts. Graduate degrees have been shown over and over again to increase the performance and value of teachers. Graduate degrees allow teachers to expand their content and pedagogical skills which have a direct impact of student achievement. With a teaching shortage and no clear sign of it improving our leaders have got to realize that until they make the profession attractive we will face the largest teacher shortage ever in the next decade. East Carolina, the state primer school for education has shown a clear slide in the number of pre-service teachers enrolling and graduating. At the pace we are moving we will not have enough to replace teachers who retire. 

The last part of this reaction deals with the expansion of the Opportunity Scholarship. While most would expect me to paint this action with a doom and gloom impact on education you would be wrong. I believe that the expansion of the scholarship program is a move in the right direction. Allowing Parents to choose the path for their children empowers them to truly be part of their child’s education. I am a firm believer in education choice and that Parents, not the government have the most important role in their children’s education. While there will be some impacts to districts based on this expansion, I truly believe that it will have a positive impact. It will create true competition and drive to do better. When parents have the choice to send their child to a public school or a private school, public schools will have to improve their product and make it appealing to their families. I think that in the end, we won’t see the drastic change that the governor and the NCAE would convince you is going to happen but only time will tell. 

North Carolina has been known as the education state for over 200 years but we are quickly losing ground. Until our legislators realize that you can’t keep “punishing” veteran teachers if you want to create quality educational experiences you will get what you paid for. You can’t continually ignore the exodus of teachers and try to blame it on the pandemic or other factors and have to face the music that teachers are just like every other professional, we want to be paid a reasonable salary for the skills and talents we have and until we see that happen, the exodus and lack of replacements will continue and in the end, it only hurts families in the middle and working classes. 

The views expressed above are those of the author and in no way reflect or represent the views of Neuse News, Greene County School Board of Education, or of its Senior Leadership.