The North Carolina General Assembly completed their work last week for the 2022 Short Session. As you may recall, North Carolina passes biennium budgets, but traditionally adjustments are made during the second year. Below are the adjustments and how they impact our state’s educators.
Educator Raises
Legislators appropriated a very small raise last year during the budget process, but legislators appropriated more toward the raise during this session. Including the amount they appropriated last time, the average pay raise for the 22-23 school year will be 4.2%. The new averages do impact both ends of the scale to help starting teachers as well as veteran teachers. The new starting salary will be $37,000 and the top end of the scale has been increased to $54,000. You can view the new schedule by clicking the link.
Also, the North Carolina General Assembly created a new funding mechanism last year to assist local counties with their local supplements. This new budget added $70 million more to take the total allotment to $170 million. Finally for teachers, the North Carolina General Assembly created a new bonus program that will pay out based on student growth scores.
Other educator raises include the following:
Non-Certified Staff will receive the greater of either a 4% pay increase or $15 an hour.
Retired state employees will receive an additional 1% bonus.
Additional Items
Funded $32 million for school safety which includes training, safety equipment, and additional funds for school resource officers
Income eligibility was expanded to 200% of the amount of student financial need to qualify for free or reduced lunch for Opportunity Scholarships. PENC does not support this program.
$32 million was added to the Transportation Fuel Reserve to assist schools with fuel costs.
Districts were held harmless during the first year of the biennium regarding funding for average daily membership due to COVID-19. This provision was not extended for the second year of the biennium.
PENC will report back after the governor acts after reviewing the budget. We will also give further details about the changes made to the local supplement piece of the budget. As always, we are glad to see the efforts made to increase compensation, but we are still a long way from where would like to see salaries for our educators in North Carolina.
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