Big raises would come for North Carolina teachers under a new bill filed Tuesday.
State Representative Erin Paré, R-Wake, filed a bill to raise teacher pay by $9,000 to $12,000 per year, depending on years of experience. The bill would also restore extra pay for teachers with master's degrees.
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Starting pay would rise from $41,000 for first-year teachers to $50,000. For the most experienced teachers, pay would rise from $55,950 to $68,230 per year.
The bill would not change the structure of the pay scale, which holds pay flat for teachers with 15 to 24 years of experience, raises pay after 25 years and then holds it flat again until the teacher retires. But the bill would seek to raise pay for those experienced teachers more than for first-year teachers. In recent years, lawmakers have prioritized bigger pay raises for earlier-career teachers and raises of only a few hundred dollars for the most experienced teachers.
The change would significantly boost the state's standing in the southeastern region, in terms of teacher pay. The National Education Association places North Carolina toward the bottom among states in the region for both beginning teacher pay and average teacher pay.
State employee pay debates are always done as part of the broader state budget rather than as standalone bills, so this bill isn't expected to gain significant traction.
However, one of the bill's lead sponsors is also one of the top House budget writers: Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth. His support could indicate the House will press for bigger raises as part of this year's budget negotiations.
In recent years, House Republicans have proposed larger raises for state employees and teachers. But those proposals have consistently been shot down by Republicans in the Senate, who have preferred to spend the money on tax cuts, private school tuition vouchers and other priorities.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall said Tuesday that he hadn’t seen the bill but that he supported raising teacher pay across the state, citing inflation in recent years as a particular hardship. “We've got to keep a track on that and understand the effects of inflation on the money that goes into our citizens' pocketbooks, in this case, teachers,” he said, adding that raises for teachers and other state employees are anticipated to be included in the budget this year.