On Monday, the North Carolina House of Representatives released this year’s budget plan. The proposed plan would make several substantive changes including repealing excise taxation on manufacturing machinery, providing a tax cut to the majority of taxpayers who make more than $95,000 annually, and a pay raise for North Carolina teachers. This raise would average 4.1 percent of current salaries and raise average teacher pay to $50,000 by 2018.
“Our economic future depends on a well-educated workforce ready for college or a career. To achieve this, we have to improve basic math, reading and writing skills in the early grades, restore discipline to the classroom, and support our teachers,” said Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, who was the House’s lead budget writer in a statement.
Opponents of the legislature’s stance on education policy in recent years are skeptical that this provision is a reactionary measure prompted by the prospect of a highly competitive election year in the traditionally “purple” Tar Heel state, according to Rodney Ellis, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.
“Now, because it’s an election year, our state elected leaders are starting to hear the sound of the beat. We need more than an election year plan. Our public school students and educators deserve a comprehensive plan to elevate North Carolina from the bottom tier of the country,” said Ellis.
Recent research from the National Education Association also reveals that although North Carolina has recently made a jump in teacher pay rankings—from 42nd in the nation to 41st, there is a strongly negative trend in the last decade in terms of teacher pay. Overall, teacher pay in North Carolina has decreased 10.2 percent in the last ten years, the fourth worst decline in teacher pay in the country.
Critics like Alexandra Sirota, director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center, argue that this trend, which resulted both from budget cuts and a failure to adjust teachers’ salaries in correspondence with cost-of-living increases, cannot be remedied by the insufficient measures proposed in the House’s plan.
