RALEIGH (May 8, 2024) – The good news: North Carolina is improving its pitiful starting pay for public school teachers.

The bad news: North Carolina has still slipped compared to other states in average pay for all its teachers.

It shouldn’t be one or the other that state legislators should emphasize – rather, they should improve all of the above.

New rankings from the National Education Association reveal that:

• Average teacher pay in North Carolina slipped from 36th among the states in 2021-22 to 38th in 2022-23, at $56,559. While average teacher pay increased 3.1% in North Carolina in 2022-23, it increased 4.1% nationwide.¹

For 2023-24, NEA estimates North Carolina teachers make an average of $58,292, compared to a national average of $71,699. So NEA projects average teacher pay in North Carolina has slipped still further in comparison with other states, to a rank of 41st.

Alabama, if you can believe it, pays its teachers $3,600 more, on average, than North Carolina does. Only Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia pay less.²

Now there’s some fine company.

• Starting teacher pay in North Carolina improved to an average of $40,136 in 2022-23 from $37,676, raising the state from a rank of 46th among the states to 42nd.

Starting teachers in Alabama, meanwhile, earned $43,679. Even in North Dakota, starting teachers made an average of $42,393. (Maybe they get a windchill supplement?) Average starting teacher pay nationwide was $44,530 IN 2022-23.³

IN SHORT: NORTH CAROLINA IS NOT KEEPING UP.

North Carolina will not remain No. 1 in the nation for business⁴ if we remain laggards in education. What part of “educated workforce” do our state legislators not comprehend?

State legislators in other states, including most of our neighboring states, are investing more in attracting and keeping teachers than North Carolina legislators are.

TEACHERS LEAVING CLASSROOMS

You can see it in the numbers: The state started the current school year with more than 3,500 teacher vacancies and more than 11,000 teachers who were unlicensed.

More than 10,000 teachers – 11.5% of the state’s 90,000, and 42% more than the prior year – left North Carolina classrooms in 2023. That’s the highest total in two decades.⁵

With a 15% attrition rate last year, teachers in their first three years were more likely to leave than more senior teachers.⁶

And whether they are beginning or experienced teachers, those who leave are likely to be succeeded by teachers at the bottom of the state pay scale, which further drags down statewide average pay.

More critically, though, it drags down the level of teaching experience and skill for children in North Carolina classrooms.

The budget state legislators approved last year provided teachers with raises of 4% for the 2023-24 budget year and 3% in 2024-25.

That’s simply not enough to keep up with inflation in recent years.⁷

In a legislative epiphany, a state House study committee found in March that “the state continues to face difficulties recruiting and retaining high quality teachers.”

Even with what it called “significant” investments, “teacher compensation has still not kept up with the rising cost of living, the increased employment opportunities for female, college-educated professionals, or the pay for other public sector employees,” the committee found.

“The Committee recognizes that North Carolina’s teacher compensation structure is not ensuring that hard-to-staff subject area positions and schools are sufficiently filled with highly qualified teachers.”⁸

Enrollment in the state’s colleges of education was down 10% last year from 2021-22, and new students entering colleges of education were down 11%, according to a report to the State Board of Education last month.

The report says enrollment has increased over the past 10 years.⁹ But there still aren’t enough graduates from the state’s education colleges to replace the teachers leaving.¹⁰

North Carolina voters want to see teachers paid better. A poll last month for Public Ed Works found 65% of the state’s registered voters think K-12 schools are underfunded. And 78% say K-12 public school teachers should be paid more than the 3% raise they are currently scheduled to get in 2024-25.¹¹

MEANWHILE, legislators are brazenly diverting available dollars to taxpayer-funded vouchers for students of any income level to attend private schools.

The state Senate passed a bill last week that would add $463 million more to the voucher program, bringing total new funding in 2024-25 to $625 million.

Gov. Roy Cooper said that money could otherwise provide 8.5% average raises and $1,500 bonuses for most public school teachers and extra pay for teachers with master’s degrees in their subject areas.

“It’s shockingly irresponsible,” Cooper said. “If they tell you they don’t have the money, that’s wrong. This is all about priorities.”¹²

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¹ https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank/teacher.
² https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/2024-rankings-and-estimates-report.pdf, p. 41.
³ https://www.nea.org/resource-library/educator-pay-and-student-spending-how-does-your-state-rank/starting-teacher.
⁴ https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/11/north-carolina-is-top-state-for-business-led-by-workforce-economy-.html.
⁵ https://www.wral.com/story/nc-teacher-turnover-hits-highest-mark-in-decades-new-report-shows-changes-in-who-is-leading-classrooms/21361469/; https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article287290125.html.
⁶ https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/meetings/TempFolder/Meetings/SoTP_2023_20240328_3908741usv3vh2dkareckq2hyp401h.pdf, p. 6.
⁷ https://publicedworks.org/2023/09/7-over-two-years-simply-not-enough/.
⁸ https://webservices.ncleg.gov/ViewDocSiteFile/86916, p. 15.
⁹ https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/meetings/TempFolder/Meetings/2024_03_SBE_EPPReport_FINAL_387646zt0h35degzdgrke31dorce5b.pdf.
¹⁰ https://www.wral.com/story/nc-teacher-turnover-hits-highest-mark-in-decades-new-report-shows-changes-in-who-is-leading-classrooms/21361469/.
¹¹ https://publicedworks.org/2024/04/nc-voters-pay-teachers-better/.
¹² https://www.wral.com/story/cooper-voucher-expansion-plan-shockingly-irresponsible/21417053/.