It appears that NC is 37th in teacher pay. It’s the state that other states were cherry picking the top teachers from. And if I remember correctly the NC government gave them a small raise a while back but then took away teaching assistants and many are having to buy stuff for their own classrooms (like, you know, paper and pencils).
I am surprised to learn that teacher pay there ranks #37. Certainly NC was (note the past tense) a low cost state, so once upon a time “ranked #37” would not have implied “underpaid.”
I believe, (correct me if I am wrong), the population there is growing quite rapidly. Costs, especially housing costs tend to accelerate rapidly with population.
The teachers there just might be right. In fact, I am inclined to side with them.
i started a thread on the old board about the NC government passing legislation to take sales tax revenue away from their more populated/busier areas (where the population is growing like their big cities and coastal areas) and give some of it to the rural areas (where many representatives are from).
so, i don’t think all areas are growing but some certainly are.
I think it was in 1988 that North Carolina took the $300.00 sales tax cap off of new car sales and it was a straight 3% of the trade difference. This more than doubled the tax revenue and placed an additional strain on the sales of cars and trucks. The promise was, that in return, 100% of those funds would be used on infrastructure and teachers’ salaries. The politicians lied and the teachers marched on Raleigh.
Years later the state wanted to conduct a lottery. The people of North Carolina were against it because they felt it just prayed on those that could least afford it. The state promised that if it was approved, 100% of the funds would be used for education. It was voted in, called the Education Lottery and all of the funds that had been previously allocated for education was allocated elsewhere but the politicians spent the lottery money on education. Is that a lie? I’d say yes.
The teachers have every right to march. Many of the kids who were there to learn, have now gone to charter schools. This reduces the money to the public schools plus leaves the teachers with students that have a lower average desire to learn. I wouldn’t be a teacher today for anything. They have every right to march.
So a lot of states have very widely differing costs if living in different parts e.g. NY’s Manhattan vs. Upstate NY.
That said. N Carolina has the 18th lowest cost of living (rank 32/50).
It’s personal income ranks 33/50
but the article states teacher pay there ranks 37/50.
NC teacher pay has some catching up to do, but it looks like it’s not terribly far from where it ‘should’ be.