Fact Check: Does average NC teacher really make $50,000
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] By Mark Binker RALEIGH, N.C. — No single claim has been used more often by more candidates this election season, or been more often questioned by critics and our readers, than the assertion that the average public school teacher in North Carolina will make $50,000 during the current school year. $50,000,” Republican Gov. Pat McCrory says in one of his most recent televisionads. The Carolina Partnership for Reform, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group that backs Republicans such as Wake County Sens. Tamara Barringer, Chad Barefoot and JohnAlexander, says, “Now, for the first time, our teachers make over $50,000 a year.” Meanwhile, Democrats such as Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is running against McCrory, air spots and send direct mail decrying the state’s lack of teacher funding. THE QUESTION: Will the average North Carolina teacher make $50,000 in the upcoming year? SUMMARY JUDGMENT: That claim doesn’t appear to be a lie or purposeful exaggeration, but it doesn’t get a green light on our fact-checking scalefor two broad reasons. The first is purely a math question. For reasons outlined below, it’s impossible to say definitively whether average teacher pay will actually top $50,000 for the coming school year, according to both state government sources and outside analysts. But even if one assumes lawmakers hit their mark, teacher pay is complex, and the situation varies among the state’s 115 school districts. Just because the average teacher in North Carolina might make $50,000 doesn’t mean your child’s teacher will or that the average teacher in your local school system does. Boiling teacher pay down to one number papers over those important differences. ABOUT THE AVERAGE: The first thing to note about the average McCrory and other Republicans are putting forward is that it is based in part on rankings and methodology by the National EducationAssociation, which bills itself as “the nation’s largest professional employee organization” and is viewed as more sympathetic to Democrats than the GOP. Using the NEA’s methodology, North Carolina’s Department of Public Instruction says average teacher salary was $47,931 in the 2015-16school year. Officials with the department say they won’t be able to calculate an estimated average for the current school year until at least December, when school districts will report a host of data to the state. Certainly, lawmakers have reason to think the average teacher salary will cross the $50,000 mark this year, as they outlined in their budget andrelated announcementsthat touted big raises. But not all teachers, especially those who have been in the profession the longest, will benefit from this year’s round of salary increases. On its website, Carolina Partnership for Reform pegs average teachersalary at a very specific $50,150per year. That number appears to come from the state budget, which says the “expected average salary for educators from all fund sources” will reach over $50,150 in 2016-17. That number is a projection and not a guarantee. Also, there is slight variation between the budget passed by lawmakers and how the administration talks about it. The Office of State Budget and Management says average teacher salaries will be “in excess of $50,000,” rather than $50,150, in its fact sheet on the budget. “We are very confident that teacher pay will get to $50k, taking into account both the teacher universe and teacher turnover,” Andrew Heath, McCrory’s budget director, said in an email. Outside experts suggest the claim is at least close to accurate. “We got pretty darned close to $50,000 when we did the math,” said Brenda Berg, executive director of BEST NC, an education advocacy group backed by large businesses in the state. Although her group’s estimates fell just shy of $50,000, BEST NC’s analyst also cautioned that it wasn’t prudent to make a firm projection until school districts report more information about their workforce, including teacher turnover. TURNOVER: Teacher turnover is an important factor because more experienced teachers make more money. If more senior teachers leave the profession, it will drag down the average salary. As WRAL News reported earlier this year, teacher turnover was close to 15 percent statewide last year. Kris Nordstrom of the liberal North Carolina Justice Center’s Educationand Law Projectand a fact check for WFDD-FM have posited that hitting the pay benchmarks outlined by lawmakers would require zero, or at least very little, teacher turnover. Heath, in an email, said that his office took turnover into account. However, fiscal analysts with the state legislature use a methodology that assumes no turnover, something they’ve done for the past decade or more. The uncertainty brought about by turnover is one big reason the Department of Public Instruction is unable to verify the $50,000 average. SUPPLEMENTS: Whether the average teacher salary turns out to be just over or under $50,000, it wouldn’t be close to that number without help from local taxpayers. In order to compile national figures that can be compared state-to-state, the NEA methodology figure lumps salary paid by the state together with local salary contributions. “You have to do that,” Berg said. “Most other states mainly fund salaries at the local level.” The reason this is an important is obvious to anyone looking at the statewide salary schedule for teachers. For the coming school year, teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no other certification will earn $35,000 per year. Without additional national board certifications or other salary boosters, teachers on the state salary schedule won’t earn more than $50,000 until their 25th year in the profession. That’s where local supplements come in. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, for example, supplements base payby 16 percent in a teacher’s first 19 yearsand pays a 25 percent supplement to those who have been in the profession 25 years or more. In Wake County, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree earned $41,037.50 last year and, even before the last round of pay raises kickedin, would crest the $50,000 mark in his or her 15th year of teaching. That means there’s a big difference in what teachers in relatively large and wealthy school districts earn and what those in […]
Teacher Raises and more under negotiation
[vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_hidrop] BY LYNN BONNER lbonner@newsobserver.com As state House and Senate negotiators prepare to work out a final budget, a lot of attention will be focused on the size of pay raises for teachers. Teacher raises turned into a major sticking point two years ago when the Senate voted for bigger raises than the House. This year, the House proposes average teacher raises of 4.1 percent. The Senate plan would raise teacher salaries an average of 6.5 percent. There’s more going on under the hood beyond the raw numbers. The Senate plan also departs from a change made two years ago when the legislature compressed the teacher salary schedule – creating broad tiers. Under the current system, teachers with 14 years experience make as much as teachers with nine, and teachers with 19 years experience make as much as those with Senate plan goes back to giving teachers more for each year they work, from the third year to the 15th year. At 15 years experience, the Senate pay schedule returns to salary tiers. Gov. Pat McCrory’s proposed salary schedule also would revert to yearly raises for most teachers. His education adviser told the State Board of Education that teachers didn’t like the new tier structure. Although House and Senate plans are different, they both give bigger percentage raises to mid- career teachers. The pay plans shortchange teachers with the most experience, said Mark Jewell, vice president of the N.C. Association of Educators. “Clearly, we are pleased the General Assembly has heard us beat the drum of the teacher shortage crisis and teacher compensation,” Jewell said. “When you look at this, it still falls short for those with the most experience,” he said. Teacher pay reliably appears as a campaign issue every two years. Even with an increase, teachers have plenty of issues to worry about, Jewell said. Schools don’t have enough textbooks, making it hard for parents to help with homework, he said. Teachers who don’t already have advanced degrees won’t get pay bumps for earning them, as they used to, and legislators want to expand the school voucher program. “They see what’s going on, and they don’t like it,” Jewell said. “I don’t think they’re going to be fooled with an election-year ploy like this.” General Roy Cooper in the governor’s race and Democrats in four Council of State races. But Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the state Republican Party, said pay raises will help GOP candidates going into election season. He described the increases as a result of Republican policies. “The policy of properly compensating teachers is now possible because of the strong economic policies that have turned North Carolina’s economic fortunes around by getting people off unemployment and getting people back to work,” Woodhouse said in a statement. “Teachers and state employees will not only benefit from higher pay but from the broad based middle class tax relief that has made North Carolina’s economic recovery an envy of thesouth.” Plenty of education issues are in the mix for budget negotiations. The House and Senate take different approaches to promoting early childhood literacy, increasing the supply of teachers, and principal training. On literacy The House halts a plan to hire more teachers to reduce first-grade class sizes, which would have cost about $27 million. Instead, the House spends $25 million on literacy coaches for elementary schools in the bottom fifth in performance. The House budget also cuts $10 million from summer reading camps for first- and second-graders who aren’t reading at grade level. The Senate keeps the $27 million for the additional first-grade teachers and adds another $27 million to hire more second-grade teachers to reduce class sizes by one student. The budget has $10 million to pay for a pilot program giving bonuses to top third-grade reading teachers. The legislature has focused on elementary school reading for the past four years. A law called Read to Achieve requires most students read proficiently by the end of third grade or risk retention. These different approaches offer an opportunity for legislators to talk about “which elements are going to affect third-grade literacy the most,” said Brenda Berg, president and CEO of BEST NC, a business group focused on education. Teacher pipeline Enrollment at UNC schools of education has dropped 30 percent in the last five years. Local districts say their problems with teacher recruitment extend from high school math and science down to elementary schools. The House budget includes a $2 million merit scholarship program for college students studying to become teachers in subjects such as math or science, or who plan to work in hard- to-staff schools. The Senate budget has $112,500 to reimburse 25 teacher assistants in five counties studying to become teachers. They would receive up to $4,500 a year. The budget also includes a plan for five lateral entry teacher preparation programs local school boards would administer. Principal preparation The House budget provides an additional $7.5 million to the program for school-leadership development, bringing the total to $8.5 million. The Senate eliminates that program, but would establish lab schools at UNC-system schools that have teacher training programs. The intent is to improve student achievement in districts with low-performing schools, and to provide teacher and principal training in those districts. The budget has $1 million in startup funds. STAFF WRITER COLIN CAMPBELL CONTRIBUTED Lynn Bonner: 919-829-4821, @Lynn_Bonner Click here to view Teacher raises and more under negotiation PDF [/vc_hidrop][/vc_column][/vc_row]