McCrory, teachers continue to spar over pay

While the state's largest teacher group lambasted Gov. Pat McCrory for sapping education funding, the governor says teachers are "making more money now than they were in the past."

Posted 9:59 p.m. Aug 31, 2016 — Updated 12:51 a.m. Sep 1, 2016

Laura Leslie

CLAYTON, N.C. — As North Carolina's largest educators association blasted the state's efforts on teacher pay Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory defended Republican efforts to do more for public schools.

McCrory faces Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper in this year's gubernatorial election campaign. The issue of school funding and teacher pay has permeated that campaign and other campaigns, with Democrats making the case that the GOP has under-funded schools, particularly when it comes to teacher salaries.

In particular, an oft-repeated line that average teacher pay throughout the state will hit $50,000 for the first time this year has drawn criticism from the North Carolina Association of Educators and others. While it's true that state lawmakers raised base pay for all public school teachers as part of the state budget passed this summer, what any one teacher makes is greatly affected by the local supplement provided by the school system in which they teach.

"I'm an accomplished teacher according to my evaluation and colleagues, but according to my paycheck, I am not an average teacher," said Hannah Bethea, a Franklinton Elementary School teacher who has been in the classroom for 11 years.

"Let me assure you, I am making well under $50,000 a year," Bethea said. "This is not professional compensation."

Bethea, an NCAE member, says her raise amounts to $53 a month, most of which will be eaten up by the classroom supplies she has to buy with her own money.

At an appearance in Clayton Wednesday morning, McCrory insisted all teachers were better off that they have been.

"The statistic is the average – average teacher pay," he said. "I'm not saying every teacher makes that. But believe me, we've had accountants look at this, and it’s accurate. I've clearly stated that not all teachers make that.

"All I do know is teachers are making more money now than they were in the past at least the past five years, and that’s very positive news. Is it enough? No, we’re going to try to get better, but thank God we had some money in the past two years where we distributed that to the teaching professions, and it was well deserved."

Fact Check: Does average NC teacher really make $50,000?

Caroline Day, an eighth-grade English teacher in Johnston County who serves on the Governor's Task Force for Safer Schools, said she feels like the governor is making an effort to raise teacher pay.

"Do we have more progress to make? Of course, but I really feel like Gov. McCrory is helping us out and making that better for us," she said.

Cooper weighed in with a news release, saying that McCrory was "all talk" when it comes to education funding.

Meanwhile, NCAE President Mark Jewell was critical of Republican lawmakers for leaving nearly 4,000 of the state's most senior educators with no raise.

Jewell said per-student spending, adjusted for inflation, has fallen from $6,237 in 2008 to $5,616 this year, a drop of about 10 percent.

“Our educators and peers are continuously having to dig into their pockets to meet students’ most basic needs because of the lack of investment from this governor,” he said.

Green Hope High School music teacher Jeremy Tucker, also an NCAE member, is the regional Teacher of the Year. He says the problem goes well beyond teacher paychecks.

“Textbooks are scarce and completely outdated. Instructional supplies are still well behind where they were before the recession, and technology has become a game of the haves and the have-nots with my students. It’s about priorities," Tucker said. "It's astounding to me and the educators and supporters here today that teachers have to actually have a GoFundMe account or a DonorsChoose account to purchase musical instruments or to help find rugs for classroom projects."

McCrory pledged that the GOP would put more funding into schools. But, he said, the steps made thus far, including concentrating on raising pay for early-career teachers, were informed by requests he got from educators.

It was teachers' groups, he said, "who told me teachers with one to five years' experience were the ones that were really hurting the most. But we still have teachers (hurting), including one I met with that works a part-time job along with teaching. And I understand. We're listening to them, and we’re positively responding, and the facts speak for themselves."

Suggest A Correction