RALEIGH (May 22, 2025) – For more than a decade, North Carolina has neglected the folks who teach our children.
Average teacher pay in the state now ranks 43rd in the nation, and starting teacher pay ranks 39th.1 The state has seen thousands of teachers leave the classroom and has increased hiring of uncertified teachers.
Starting teachers in South Carolina now make at least $47,000, compared with $41,000 in North Carolina.2
It’s simply embarrassing – as if we don’t care about the futures of our children and our future workforce.
But the budget advanced this week by the NC House would take steps to significantly raise teacher pay in the state:
•Public school teachers would see an average raise of 8.7% over the next two years.
•Including step increases, raises would range from as much as 17.7% over two years for beginning teachers to 6.4% over two years for teachers with 10 years of experience to 2.1% over two years for teachers with more than 25 years’ experience.
•It would increase the state’s base pay for starting teachers from $41,000 to $48,000 in 2025-26 and $50,000 in 2026-27.
•Including local supplements, starting pay would reach $56,593 in two years, which House leaders say would make starting teacher pay in North Carolina the highest in the Southeast. Nationwide, average starting teacher pay is $46,526, according to the NationalEducation Association.
•And it restores additional pay for teachers with master’s degrees in the fields they teach, which legislators eliminated in 2013.3
THAT’S A whole lot better than the pitiful raises for teachers the state Senate included in its version of the budget: An average 3.3% raise and $3,000 in bonuses over two years.4
If implemented, it would help address teacher turnover, morale and the ability to attract the best candidates to the profession.
House Republicans’ proposal – which, contrary to some critics, contains no tax increase – even received support from 27 Democrats in a preliminary vote Wednesday.5
It would be the most the General Assembly has done for North Carolina teachers in years.
Other state employees – including UNC and Community College System employees – would see a 2.5% raise in 2025-26 under the House budget proposal.
The two chambers will now negotiate in conference committee to agree on a proposal to send to Gov. Josh Stein.
If you care about public education in North Carolina, you should contact your state senator or the office of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
HOW DOES the House proposal come up with the money for bigger raises?
•It delays planned income-tax cuts by raising the revenue targets that would trigger them.
•It cuts 3,000 positions across state government – nearly all of them vacant.6
•It reels back $500 million that the legislature gave to NCInnovation – a nonprofit that seeks to commercialize research at state universities outside the Triangle – and directs it toward Hurricane Helene relief in Western North Carolina.
•UNC System cuts: The House budget would require $130 million in cuts across the UNC System over the next two years.
•Increased tuition: The House would require the UNC System to raise $30 million in additional tuition revenue – a 2-3% increasen. The System’s Board of Governors has held in-state tuition constant for nine straight years at its 16 universities. The House and Senate would both increase out-of-state tuition for students in NC Promise, which offers discounted tuition at Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State, UNC-Pembroke and Western Carolina.7
House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, said the House’s proposal “gets us closer to what Governor (Josh) Stein proposed on teacher pay and our state’s fiscal cliff.” He referred to projections that the state will see a decline of more than $800 million in revenue in 2026-27 under currently planned tax cuts.8
But Reives also noted that in the budget, “Taxpayer-funded private school vouchers continue to divert funds from public schools to send wealthy children to private schools.”9
After action by the legislature last fall, the state is schedule to spend more than $500 million on private school vouchers this year and billions more over the next decade.10
1 https://publicedworks.org/2025/05/nc-teacher-pay-now-ranks-43rd/.
2 https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article287944265.html.
3 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article306751831.html; https://www.wunc.org/politics/2025-05-19/nc-house-budget-calls-delayed-tax-cuts-state-workers.
4 https://publicedworks.org/2025/04/paltry/.
5 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article306951551.html.
6 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article306758631.html.
7 https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article306423671.html.
8 https://www.osbm.nc.gov/consensus-revenue-forecast-fy-2025-27/open.
9 https://www.wunc.org/politics/2025-05-19/nc-house-budget-calls-delayed-tax-cuts-state-workers.
10 https://www.wunc.org/education/2024-11-01/private-school-vouchers-north-carolina-data-accountability; https://www.wral.com/story/republicans-strike-deal-on-funding-school-vouchers-plan-vote-next-week/21611710/.
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