RALEIGH (December 31, 2025) – 2025 was noteworthy more for what didn’t happen in North Carolina than what did.
In fact, the word of the year for North Carolina might be “failed”:
•No new state budget. North Carolina is the only state that failed to adopt a new budget for 2025-26, though the state House, with a Republican majority, offered a reasonable option that even Democratic Gov. Josh Stein applauded.1 State legislators failed – there’s that word again – to perform their most basic, fundamental civic task. What makes North Carolina so much more “special” than every other state in the Union?
•No raises for teachers and state employees, despite dramatic turnover among the ranks of teachers2 and inflation that remained stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s target. Combined with planned increases in premiums for the State Health Plan, this amounts to an unconscionable pay cut for teachers and state employees.3
•No decision on the 31-year-old Leandro school funding case, almost two years after it was last argued before the NC Supreme Court.4 Is the Court prepared to join state legislators to assure yet another generation of North Carolina children will not receive adequate funds for their education? The NC constitution’s command is clear: All the state’s children are entitled to “a sound, basic education.” The case is a sheer embarrassment to a state once regarded as a beacon of light in the South.
•And no winning season for Bill Belichick after UNC’s meddlesome trustees thought they could buy their way to prominence. A case study in board overreach.5
NORTH CAROLINA was once again rated the No. 1 state in the nation for business this year.6 Yet at the same time, it sank once again to 50th in state funding effort – the percentage of its economy it invests in K-12 public schools.7
Those two rankings will not coexist for long.
If North Carolina legislators don’t recognize the need to invest in the state’s schools, its teachers and – most of all – its 1.5 million public-school students who are our future workforce, this state won’t remain No. 1 for business.
It is past time for North Carolina legislators to do their job. And North Carolina voters need to hold them accountable if they yet again fail to do so.
1 https://governor.nc.gov/news/press-releases/2025/05/21/governor-steins-statement-house-budget-proposal.
2 https://www.wral.com/news/education/nc-teacher-turnover-down-but-profession-has-changed-new-data-shows-april-2025/.
3 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article312683081.html; https://www.wunc.org/health/2025-12-02/nc-treasurer-briner-benefit-changes-premium-hikes-state-employee-health-plan.
4 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article313658005.html.
5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRT0kWhMYEM; https://www.wral.com/news/investigates/northcarolina-inside-the-bill-belichick-hiring-process-coaching-carolina-december-2025/.
6 https://www.wral.com/news/local/new-record-job-creation-nc-stein-dec-2025/.
7 https://edlawcenter.org/research/making-the-grade-2025/; https://edlawcenter.org/research/making-the-grade-2025/.
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