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Brief
The National Education Association released on Wednesday its annual report on public school rankings and estimates and North Carolina is once again toward the bottom on teacher pay in 2013-14, ranking 47th in the nation – but the rankings pre-date the General Assembly’s move to boost teacher pay last year.
North Carolina inched up in the 2014 rankings on per-pupil finding – from 47th to 46th – but the amount of funding in actual dollars spent per student fell from $8,632 to $8,620, according to the North Carolina Association for Educators (NCAE).
“The rankings once again show the troubling trend of falling per-student funding in our public schools,” said NCAE President Rodney Ellis. “Instead of righting the ship, North Carolina’s per- pupil expenditure continues to drop. If we are going to get serious about what works, we must get serious about modern textbooks in the classrooms, more one-on-one interaction with teachers and students, and a quality teacher in every class.”
The NEA estimates that North Carolina will rise in the rankings on teacher pay to 42nd in 2015, the first year that lawmakers’ average 7 percent pay raise for teachers, which was enacted last year, will be reflected in the rankings.
Previously, lawmakers said that last year’s pay bump for teachers should move the state up to 32nd in teacher pay—and that promise is prominently displayed on Senate leader Phil Berger’s website still today.
“The budget will provide public school educators an average seven percent raise – averaging $3,500 per teacher. The $282 million investment will be largest teacher pay raise in state history – moving North Carolina from 46th to 32nd in national teacher pay rankings,” according to Berger’s website.
North Carolina ranks 51st in percentage change in teacher salaries between 2003-04 and 2013-14.
Read the full report below, which also includes rankings and estimates on school revenues and expenditures, student-teacher ratios and other information about state and local investment in public schools.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/259169413/NEA-Rankings-and-Estimates-2015-03-11a
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