JUSTIN PARMENTER: N.C teachers prepare to march to restore benefits stripped by legislators

Saturday, March 30, 2019 -- Stripping retirement health benefits merely gives prospective teachers one more reason to turn their back on North Carolina's schools. If our legislators are serious about improving education outcomes, their policies need to make this a more attractive state to teach in. On May 1, supporters of public education will put legislators on notice that we expect them to reinstate those crucial benefits and do it this session.

Posted 9:00 a.m. Mar 30, 2019 — Updated 9:50 a.m. Mar 30, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE: Justin Parmenter is a seventh grade language arts teacher at Waddell Language Academy in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County school system.

On May 1, North Carolina public education advocates will march through the streets of Raleigh to the legislature. WE WILL demand five things.

Enough school librarians, psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, and other health professionals to meet national standard,
A $15 minimum wage for all school personnel, 5 percent raise for all school employees and a 5-percent cost of living adjustment for retirees.
Medicaid expansion to improve the health of our students and families.
Reinstatement of state retiree health benefits for teachers hired after 2021.
Restoration of extra pay for teachers with advanced degrees.

While student support services, compensation, and Medicaid expansion might be more sexy, it is the two other goals on our agenda that are crucial to attract and keep good teachers to North Carolina.

After the state budget was passed in the summer of 2017, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger was quick to congratulate his legislative colleagues for what he referred to as an ongoing effort to “improve education outcomes.” But provisions buried deep in the budget’s fine print actually made it even more difficult to address our teacher shortage and in fact discourage teachers from entering the profession.

The budget changed retirement health benefits for state employees hired after Jan. 1, 2021. Teachers hired after that date, who devote their lives to serving the children of North Carolina, will be forced to purchase their own health insurance after they retire. That’s a really scary prospect considering the exorbitant costs and uncertainty surrounding health care in the United States.

This pending change comes as North Carolina is already mired in an education crisis and growing teacher shortage. Teacher salaries lag far behind the national average, career protections have been stripped, pay for advanced degrees has been revoked, and insurance premium costs have steadily risen. Just as troubling is our state’s 49th-and-dropping teacher pay competitiveness ranking, which compares teacher compensation with the wages of other industries requiring a college degree. It is no surprise the number of students choosing to enroll in UNC teacher preparation programs has declined.

Across North Carolina, thousands of teaching vacancies mean many students see an endless procession of substitute teachers. While these substitutes deserve a lot of credit for the incredibly difficult work they do, they are not equipped to deliver the education outcomes we want for our children.

A study by the Rand Corporation found that, among school-related factors, having a high-quality teacher in place has the largest impact on student achievement – two to three times as much as services, facilities and school leadership. The Center for Public Education echoes Rand’s findings and adds that, in order to ensure that every child is taught by excellent teachers, states must step up efforts to recruit and retain top candidates. That’s exactly the opposite of what’s happening in North Carolina.

Stripping retirement health benefits merely gives prospective teachers one more reason to turn their back on North Carolina’s schools. If our legislators are serious about improving education outcomes, their policies need to make this a more attractive state to teach in. On May 1, supporters of public education will put North Carolina legislators on notice that we expect them to reinstate those crucial benefits and do it this session.

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