RALEIGH (June 20, 2024) – At least the state House is making an effort.
At a stalemate in budget negotiations with the state Senate, the 2024-25 budget Republican leaders in the House are moving this week responds to at least some screaming needs:
- In a state that lost 10,000 K-12 public school teachers last year, it would increase a scheduled 3% average raise for teachers to 4.4%. It would restore a pay bump for teachers with master’s degrees that legislators eliminated in 2013. And it would increase starting teacher pay from $39,000 this year to $44,000.1
- In response to inflation that the Federal Reserve hasn’t yet tamed, the House plan would increase raises for other state employees to 4% and provide a one-time 2% bonus to state retirees.2
- And critically, as federal pandemic aid is scheduled to expire this month and as 29% of child-care centers that provide care for 92,000 children say it could force them to close,3 the House would commit $135 million in one-time dollars to continue that support.4
“We cannot leave Raleigh without addressing the childcare crisis,” said House Appropriations Co-Chair Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth. “The House budget continues 75% of current stabilization grants to keep childcare centers open … while giving the state time to develop a more sustainable model for childcare costs.”5
YET THE HOUSE PLAN ALSO DOUBLES taxpayers’ support for vouchers in the coming school year – to $541.5 million – for students who attend private schools.6
Yes, vouchers can offer an escape hatch for students in failing schools. But anyone who doesn’t understand that drains dollars from public schools lives in la-la land.
And in the irony of ironies, the rural counties many of these legislators represent don’t even have the private schools they want to subsidize with taxpayer-supported vouchers.
Whatever the Senate does – especially if it adjourns as President Pro Tem Phil Berger has threatened and goes home without updating the state budget – will undoubtedly be less than the House offers.
Early indications are that the Senate’s version of the budget includes no additional raises for teachers or state workers.7
Senate leaders have simply given up on public education in a state that was once known for it.
IS THIS WHO WE ARE as a state? Is this the best this state can do for our children?
Lord help us if it is.
Gov. Roy Cooper, meanwhile, is a staunch opponent of vouchers and proposed an 8.5% raise for the state’s teachers.8
Though it ranks No. 1 in business, North Carolina ranked 42nd in the nation in starting teacher pay last year and 38th in average teacher pay. And it is projected to rank 41st this year.9
Those rankings can’t be sustained together.
This state lost 11.5% of its public-school teachers last year.10 And many are being “replaced” by teachers who are not certified.
North Carolina ranks an embarrassing 49th among the states in the portion of its economy it devotes to public education.11
THIS STATE’S leaders simply don’t want to do what’s best for our children, the vast majority of whom still attend public schools.
That’s shameful.
It’s an abdication of the state’s constitutional responsibilities.
But when will North Carolina stand up to this? When will we say no?
It’s a miserable situation for public education in our state, but at least the state House is making a gesture to help.
1 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/84/House_CommitteeReport_for_Appropriations_2024_06_17, p. 33/B15.
2 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/84/House_CommitteeReport_for_Appropriations_2024_06_17, p. 48/B30.
3 https://cms.childcarerrnc.org/wp-content/uploads/NC-Stabilization-Funds-Provider-Challenges-Survey-Findings-4.2.2034.pdf.
4 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/84/House_CommitteeReport_for_Appropriations_2024_06_17, p. 103/C28.
5 https://www.wral.com/story/child-care-aid-private-school-vouchers-state-worker-raises-in-new-nc-house-budget-proposal/21487380/.
6 https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewNewsFile/84/House_CommitteeReport_for_Appropriations_2024_06_17, p. B32.
7 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article289390048.html; https://www.wral.com/story/north-carolina-house-gives-initial-approval-to-its-budget-proposal-senate-to-debate-its-spending-priorities-next/21490429/.
8 https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank/teacher.
9 https://publicedworks.org/2024/05/nc-slips-in-teacher-pay-ranking/; https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article288227865.html.
10 https://www.wral.com/story/nc-teacher-turnover-hits-highest-mark-in-decades-new-report-shows-changes-in-who-is-leading-classrooms/21361469/.
11 https://edlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Making-the-Grade-2023.pdf.
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