Burke Educators Association

DPI Report Exposes the Lie Behind North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships Taxpayers fund a private school subsidy system with weak accountability and no real reinvestment for public classrooms.

This is the Governor's proposal. This is NOT the budget agreement. Our governor has had so many authorities stripped from the position that it is de facto one of the weakest governor offices in the US. The next move will come from the House then the Senate will go last. The House and Senate will then confer and SHOULD reach an agreement on a budget. We have not had a budget for 2.5 years. There is movement, but don't get invested in the Governor's proposal, it will not stand with the supermajority in the Senate.

See you there!

Reason #16 To Put #KidsOverCorporations – $1,860 Less A Year In Actual Dollars: Comparing Veteran Teachers With Graduate Degrees From 2008 – 2025/26 Go back a few years – say before the Great Recession. 2008. If you started as a teacher with a 4-year degree you would make 30,430 / year. If you planned on earning a master’s degree you could with…

NCAE calling on NC teachers to take off work to protest in Raleigh. Here’s when This would be the first mass march organized by NCAE since May 2018 and May 2019, when many schools closed for the day.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CVa433TM4/

Poll - What should NC prioritize in the next state budget?

A. Raise educator pay
OR
B. More corporate tax cuts

Interesting read

Democrats must step up to fix public education in NC | Opinion North Carolina's public education system faces challenges, with Republicans criticized for voucher programs and Democrats for lacking innovation.

An op-ed from Business NC.

"...just as relatively high government spending brings diminishing returns at the expense of other public priorities, so, too, do very low tax rates.

Partly as a consequence of North Carolina’s budgetary austerity, its spending on pre-K-12 public education has sunk to harmfully low levels.

We’re chronically short of teachers; turnover is too high; and teaching is a less appealing career for smart professionals. Our children suffer.

Assessing teacher payWe can evaluate public education investments several ways:

North Carolina ranks 43rd among the states in average teacher pay, 39th in starting teacher pay, and 47th in school funding per student.

We pay teachers $13,738 below the national average.Our average annual teacher pay of $58,292 is 7% (or more than $4,000) below our statewide average annual income of $62,440.We rank 50th – dead last – in the percentage of our state’s overall economy that we invest in our public schools.

And in my new analysis of average teacher pay compared to each state’s cost of living, North Carolina ranks 46th among the 50 states. Only Arizona, Maine, Florida, and Hawaii pay teachers relatively worse by this common-sense measure.

All four of our neighboring states pay teachers more, as do such conservative states as Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming – all of which except Virginia have lower costs of living than North Carolina. That means they do more with less, while we do less with more.

Market forces matterAny way you slice it, that should be unacceptable.

Partly as a result of our state’s stinginess, we have a 7.4% teacher vacancy rate across North Carolina, and one in 10 teachers quits each year.

North Carolina isn’t a wealthy state, but it’s not a poor one, either. We can do better.Consider this:

Public school teachers typically must have at least a four-year degree, demonstrate expertise in their subjects, and be licensed by the state. By contrast, only 36% of North Carolina adults ages 25-64 have a four-year college degree. And yet, on average, less-educated workers out-earn the teachers in charge of instructing our children – the citizens, leaders, and employees of tomorrow. That’s nuts.

Conservatives typically embrace free-market philosophies and policies. Teaching might be the only economic sector in which some of them seem mysteriously to believe (or to hope) that market incentives don’t apply. That’s foolish thinking.

A state that was first in freedom and later first in flight is now nearly last in our investment in public education. Does that really reflect North Carolina’s values? What’s next?

A state’s budget embodies the taxing and spending priorities of its elected legislators.North Carolina’s already-low individual income tax rate is scheduled to drop further, to 3.99% this year and 3.49% next year, with the corporate rate dipping to 2% this year on its way to zero by 2030.But lower rates would produce less revenue, and public PK-12 schools receive 39% of the state’s roughly $32 billion annual budget. So further revenue reductions would hit public schools especially hard when they already lag considerably.

That’s why leaders in the state House propose to freeze our tax rates where they are for now, instead of cutting deeper into the bone of public education.

The state Senate, by contrast, wants to accelerate rate cuts, aiming ultimately for a bargain-basement rate of 1.99%.

Balancing needs

Every choice is a trade-off. Our elected representatives must balance complex, competing interests. Their policies are choices affecting millions of people for years while shaping our overall economic success.

Disproportionately high spending on education would come at the expense of other needs. But low education spending constrains our people and our economy. Educated citizens are better, more fulfilled contributors. And companies depend on a well-educated, well-trained workforce to thrive.

A robust economy, in turn, generates more revenue for education and other services.

Public priorities must be weighed against each other. There’s no magic formula for setting tax rates or determining education spending. But in such a fundamental governmental responsibility, the bottom of the heap doesn’t cut it.

Once again, North Carolina finds itself at a competitive disadvantage in a crucial benchmark. Just as tax rates once needed to drop, public education spending now must rise to keep the Old North State on par with its peers.

The challenge is not theoretical. North Carolina is in a daily global battle to attract new businesses, grow existing enterprises, and add 21st-century jobs. High taxes would impede that. So does inadequate public education.

Holding state income tax rates steady at their current low levels to stabilize education spending is a reasonable compromise that farsighted business leaders could support. They appreciate disciplined budgets, but in the long run they can’t do without well-educated employees.Fortunately, North Carolina can have both."

Chatham County Schools just closed for 5/1. Who's next? Put in your personal day, and join us in Raleigh on May 1st to tell the NC General Assembly to put Kids Over Corporations. Fill out and share the commitment link to stay updated!