State Board of Ed: Teacher salaries top priority

Published March 4, 2016

by Kelly Hinchcliffe, WRAL, March 4, 2016.

The State Board of Education has created a list of six budget priorities it wants Gov. Pat McCrory to consider this year. At the top of the list: teacher salaries.

School board members debated this week whether to request a specific amount, as State Superintendent June Atkinson did recently when she asked lawmakers for a 10 percent raise for teachers, or to make a generic request for higher pay.

The board decided to request that North Carolina become No. 1 in the southeast region for teacher salaries. North Carolina is currently ranked 11th out of 12 states in the southeast, according to state education leaders.

It's unclear how much of an increase it would take to become No. 1. Philip Price, chief financial officer for the state Department of Public Instruction, said it "will take some time to determine that percentage," adding that "we are starting that process now."

Legislators have raised teacher pay in each of the past two years, focusing on early-career educators. North Carolina ranked 47th in the country for average salaries for public school teachers, according to recent estimates by the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union.

A first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree and no special certifications makes $35,000, while 20-year veterans get $46,500 a year, state records show.

During budget discussions this week, state school board Vice Chairman A.L. "Buddy" Collins urged board members to be "reasonable in the requests we're making," adding that "I think this discussion is becoming a wish list."

Christine Fitch, a local board of education advisor, pushed back, saying "it's not a wish list. It's a needs list."

"If you don't ask for it, you'll never get it," she said.

The state superintendent has predicted that the General Assembly will give teachers the largest salary increase in a decade because it is an election year.

The school board's other top budget priorities include:

Digital learning

$57 million for textbooks and digital resources

$25 million for classroom technology

$6 million to make the Home Base system free for all schools. Teachers use Home Base to access student data and teaching resources. Students use it to access assignments, grades and activities. Parents use it to view their children’s attendance and grades. Administrators use it to monitor data about students and teachers in their schools.

$3 million nonrecurring and $2 million recurring funds to support upgrades to the Uniform Education Reporting System.

Teacher recruitment and retention

$12 million for professional development, to restore the funds to 2008-09 levels

$4 million in incentive bonuses for teachers exceeding growth in the lowest achieving 5 percent of schools

$1 million to train lateral entry teachers, which would pay for two courses per year per teacher

State agency support of public schools

$8.6 million for intensive support for the lowest-achieving 5 percent of schools and 10 percent of districts

$4 million for intensive support for students with behavioral/emotional needs

$600,000 for leadership programs for principals and assistants

$80,000 for the NC Procurement Alliance

General classroom support

$46.9 million for instructional supplies and equipment

$20 million to support the implementation of Child Nutrition Program standards

$11.5 million per year for five years to hire an additional 236 nurses to achieve the recommended ratio of 1 nurse to 750 students, per the National Association of School Nurses