Why teachers say CMS superintendent’s proposed teacher raises aren’t enough
Public school advocates and educators say proposed teacher pay increases for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools next year aren’t high enough.
CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill has said community members made it clear their first priority for the budget is increasing teacher pay. Her budget proposal presented to the board March 26 aims for an average increase to teacher supplements of 5% and assumes a state salary increase of 3%.
Advocates and teachers have called for the CMS Board of Education to raise teacher supplements by an average of at least 10% — and that message continued at Tuesday’s school board meeting.
“I’ll quote Jim Wallis in saying ‘A budget is a moral document,’ and I think it’s time to step up with some moral conviction that our teachers are worth more,” said Kyle Queen, a retired teacher involved with public school advocacy group Public School Strong. “Our ask is for a 10% increase from the county commissioners, and we need the school board to ask for that first.”
Mechelle Vaughn, a veteran CMS educator, says a pay increase is needed to keep experienced teachers in the district’s classrooms.
“As veterans continue to leave, what becomes of our school system? We have a lot of lofty goals, and you cannot do that with a rookie staff,” she told The Charlotte Observer before Tuesday’s board meeting. “We’ve got to figure out some creative ways to support our veteran teachers because I’m in the building, and I’m watching them leave.”
In the 2024-25 school year, starting teachers in North Carolina make a base salary of $41,000. CMS adds a supplement of around $7,600 for beginning teachers, bringing their salaries to just over $48,600 this year. A single individual with no children needs to make around $55,300 per year to make a living wage in Mecklenburg County, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator.
The budget proposal
Hill’s $2.1 billion budget proposal for 2025-26 includes a total operating budget of over $1.95 billion, an increase of less than 1% over this year’s current operating budget.
It calls for $28.3 million more from Mecklenburg County, $26 million of which will go to pay increases. That’s in addition to the already approved $639 million recurring county appropriation approved last year. If approved, it would bring the total county appropriation to approximately $668 million.
The district projects a student population of about 141,700 next school year.
The budget comes during an uncertain time for public education across the country. President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, resulting in over $6 million in terminated CMS grants in February that the Department of Education claimed went toward DEI programming. Trump also signed an executive order on March 20, ordering the secretary of education to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, which is responsible for administering federal grants to school districts like CMS.
Meanwhile, the county and state both project shortfalls this year.
“We’re talking about $49 million in growth revenue to cover anything over and above what we did in fiscal year 2024,” said David Boyd, Mecklenburg County chief financial officer, at a joint meeting with the CMS board in January. “Just looking at county employees, that’s about $31 million. … so that’s a challenge.”
Hill has cited the “tight” budget year for all of the district’s main funding streams as her reason for requesting a 5% supplement increase, which would cost around $8 million.
Calls on the county
Vaughan, Queen and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators vice president and teacher Rae LeGrone say CMS should ask Mecklenburg County for more money for teacher pay.
“I believe last year listening to the county commissioners they were kind of surprised that we didn’t ask for more,” LeGrone told The Observer. “I feel like it’s better to come in asking for a full budget of what we need and then working in good faith to figure out what can be funded.”
This year, about 38% of the county’s general fund — money generated by property and sales taxes as well as other sources — went toward CMS. If the pattern continues, that figure will be 41% in 2030. By contrast, 54% of Wake County’s budget this year went toward funding education, including Wake County Public Schools, WakeTech and the Smart Start program. Guilford County Schools accounts for around 45% of Guilford County’s operating budget.
Some board members want the county to contribute more to CMS as well.
“I think we can go to our county and ask for more,” board member Summer Nunn said at the March 26 board meeting. “Other counties are spending a larger portion of their budget on K through 12.”
Hill, board members and teachers agree the state isn’t pulling its weight when it comes to public education funding.
“I don’t want to create the illusion that schools are properly funded because schools are not properly funded,” Hill said in March. “If we were funded better at the state level, we would not have to do all of these wonky things in order to make sure that we have a competitive workforce.”
North Carolina currently ranks 48th in the nation for school funding, according to the Education Law Center. Despite a growing economy and tax base, the state currently spends almost $5,000 less per student than the national average and trails behind neighboring states South Carolina and Virginia.
The school board will vote on Hill’s budget proposal April 22.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
