(The Center Square) – Educators in North Carolina are getting their biggest salary bump and raise in 20 years, leaders of the General Assembly said Tuesday.
While not retroactive to the day the two-year spending plan was to be enacted, the increases are nonetheless across the board – including for veteran teachers who idle on the step pay scale as they near retirement. First-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein issued a statement dripped in skepticism, and the minority party leader of the House of Representatives said the last 317 days have amounted to a pay cut.
Tuesday’s proclamation by Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Rep. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said the framework was in place to finish the state budget due a year ago. Statutorily obligated to enact it July 1 every two years, the deal has struggled to the finish line because of state employee raises, the incremental cuts to the personal income tax, and healthcare via Medicaid.
“The increased cost of the State Health Plan has meant that state employees and teachers have effectively seen a pay cut since the new costs at the end of last year,” said Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham. “Healthcare costs have increased for many North Carolinians but in the private sector, raises can help offset them.
“Because of persistent inflation, the purchasing power of employees has gone down over the past year. The latest CPI reading shows a 3.8% increase.”
In spring of last year, the proposal of Stein was $67.9 billion, and both chambers of the General Assembly came in at $65.9 billion. The biggest disagreements were the Senate wanting to retain the scaled tax cuts structure while the House wanted the adjustment based on the Office of State Budget and Management forecast; and differences on pay raises for state employees and teachers.
The House of Representatives had a higher teacher pay raise than the Senate on average – 8.7% to 3.3% – over the proposed two-year plan. And the governor’s 5.8% average pay raise initially was upped this year to 11%. The North Carolina Association of Educators, a group with declining membership of state educators aligned with the two major national teachers’ unions, wanted 25% across the board.
Hall and Berger on Tuesday said teachers are getting an 8% raise and bonuses – $1,000 if 16 years or more experience, $500 if less. It’ll be when the budget is enacted rather than retroactive.
“It is past time that our teachers, state law enforcement officers, and state employees get a meaningful pay raise and recognition for their service to the people of North Carolina,” Stein said. “Today’s announcement is only a framework, but if the final budget actually includes real salary increases, it would be welcome. The proof, however, will be in the pudding.”
Eyes will be upon Stein after seeing how his predecessor in the governor’s office, U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper, handled past budgets and educator raises. Cooper consistently asked for significant amounts of pay raise for educators. He took budget actions accordingly – two signings and four vetoes – and in turn allowed the Republican Party to take credit for giving more teacher raises than he did.
Cooper signed one two-year budget (2021-22), one midterm adjustment (2022) and allowed a two-year budget to become law without his signature (2023-24), the latter tied to his long-sought request for Medicaid expansion.
Cooper vetoed two-year budgets for 2017-18 and 2019-20, and midterm adjustments in 2018 and 2024. Veto overrides by Republicans enacted two-year budget legislation for 2017-18 and midterm adjustments in 2018 and 2024.
Sen. Sydney Batch, D-Wake, the minority leader of the upper chamber, offered no praise for the advancement shared Tuesday.
“I am not about to give Republicans any credit for finally showing up to do the job they were elected to do after 316 days of delay and failure – especially when they still don’t have a full plan, and especially when, yet again, no Democrats were invited to the table to help build one.”
First-term Democratic state Superintendent Mo Green’s tenor was more welcoming.
“I’m grateful North Carolina General Assembly leadership announced a budget framework that includes meaningful pay increases for our public school educators,” he said Wednesday morning in a statement. “Our educators deserve to be revered for the work and dedication behind North Carolina’s historic achievements in graduation rates, advanced placement participation and performance, career and technical education credentials, and the percentage of graduates who passed a college-level course while still in high school.”
