Teacher: It’s hard to see the positives in the NC budget - even if I squint

As a teacher I want to be optimistic, and I try to bring out the best in every child. I’m trying to do the same with the new state budget. Even though the N.C. budget is more than four months late, I’d like to focus on the positives.

This budget invests in human capital in high-need areas through the “low wealth county” supplement. It raises the pay of all bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria workers across the state with a $15 an hour minimum wage over two years. And it adds Fayetteville State University to the NC Promise program. But after that short list, it gets harder to see the positives — even if I squint.

Yes, one-time bonuses are helpful in the short term, but they aren’t real raises, and they don’t count toward my retirement. When you factor in the removal of longevity pay, state funding for veteran teacher pay has declined over the last decade, making it harder to even consider retirement.

This budget could have compensated educators for the degrees that they’ve earned, but yet again, the N.C. General Assembly failed to restore Masters pay for instructors.

The salary increases that were included in the budget — a 1.3% increase per year for classroom teachers — do not equal the 5% that has been widely publicized. Teachers are smart enough to figure out that sleight of hand includes the step increase already planned in our salary schedules.

Meanwhile, veteran teachers who don’t get a step increase are left hanging in the wind with a smaller pay increase than anyone else.

Do state lawmakers realize that teachers and public school staff are leaving in droves? Good people have been leaving our schools over the last decade because they feel underpaid and underappreciated.

The pandemic, which just multiplied the stress in our schools, accelerated the exodus. We have a serious vacancy crisis in public schools across the state. And now, our schools are full of overworked and frustrated employees.

Perhaps the most shortsighted action of all with this state budget: prioritizing more and more tax cuts, including eliminating the corporate income tax, when we have so many other priorities — including fully funding public education. We’ve been watching for years as the General Assembly ignores its constitutional responsibility to provide a quality education to every child in North Carolina. The courts have ordered them again to comply with the Leandro court decision and the state had enough money, but they chose tax cuts over our kids.

Of course, the students are what this is all about. It’s what keeps most school employees coming back when we could be making more money in other jobs. We love our students and desperately want them to succeed. I wish all our legislators felt the same way.

If our state leaders have any further questions or concerns about the actual state of public education in North Carolina, they can always reach out and try walking a mile in the shoes of this or any other educator.