Teacher Pay in North Carolina

Teachers are the most significant in-school factor for student success, which means the most important thing we can do to improve our education system is to recruit, prepare, support, and retain great talent for our schools. However, for years, tens of thousands of early and mid-career teachers were earning less than a living wage for a family of four. And despite North Carolina’s investment of +$1 billion in teacher pay over the last decade, many teachers are still pointing to pay as one of the main drivers of turnover. BEST NC’s research is helping policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders make sense of North Carolina’s teacher pay landscape, and our recommendations are designed to not only improve educators lives, but student results as well.