RALEIGH (August 16, 2023) – Here we go again. A year ago, North Carolina students – our most precious resource – started school with 5,000 teacher positions vacant across the state. A year later, with school to start in two weeks, it appears our children are about to do the same. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools alone,… READ MORE
State Board Chair: ‘A critical time’ for public education
CHARLOTTE (July 26, 2023) – With the state budget for the next two years still unsettled, the Chair of the State Board of Education says it’s a critical time to tell legislators to support public education. “A budget really speaks to our values,” State Board Chair Eric Davis says in the accompanying video. NC House… READ MORE
State Board Chair: ‘We need salaries that are competitive’
CHARLOTTE (July 20, 2023) – The Chair of the State Board of Education appreciates North Carolina teachers. And as legislators continue to dicker over the state budget, he says they need to pay teachers better. “Most of all, we need to compensate them worthy of the profession that all other professions depend upon,” State Board… READ MORE
Roy Williams on teacher pay: ‘Come on, man!’
CHAPEL HILL (June 22, 2023) – When he lists his heroes – other than his mother – Hall of Fame Coach Roy Williams lists his teachers. “The most important people to me in my entire life were my high school and elementary school teachers. No one ever was as important to me as those people… READ MORE
Teachers: You can grow your own
DENVER, NC – North Carolina has a severe teacher shortage – the state started the school year more than 5,000 teachers short.1 But some places have learned you can grow your own. In a webinar hosted by Higher Ed Works on May 16, Rachel Frye, the Southwest NC Teacher of the Year at East Lincoln… READ MORE
NC teacher pay: ‘Simply not competitive’
CLICK HERE to view the full webinar on Fair Pay for NC K-12 Teachers RALEIGH (June 8, 2023) – When she won a North Carolina Teaching Fellows scholarship to become a teacher in 1998, Rachel Frye felt valued by the state of North Carolina. But after 21 years in teaching, Frye says in webinar on… READ MORE
Lawmakers show what they mean by school choice
RALEIGH (June 1, 2023) – State legislators are moving to dramatically expand vouchers to attend private schools this year, lifting income limits on who qualifies and raising state spending on vouchers to more than half a billion dollars a year by 2032-33.1 Make no mistake – budgets are about choices. And state legislators are choosing… READ MORE
Senate budget: Simply not enough
RALEIGH (May 18, 2023) – It’s simply not enough. The budget proposal released this week by the state Senate is simply not enough to improve public education in North Carolina. There’s an undeniable link between education and a skilled workforce. Yet state legislators don’t seem to get that. At a time when average teacher pay… READ MORE
Vouchers: The privatization of NC public schools
By Don Martin and David Rice RALEIGH (May 5, 2023) – News Item: Average teacher pay in North Carolina public schools ranks 34th in the nation this school year, up from 36th last year. And North Carolina ranks 46th in starting teacher pay.1 How’s that for North Carolina pride? Let’s hear it for 34th! And… READ MORE
Playing catch-up on starting teacher pay – with Alabama?
RALEIGH (April 26, 2023) – School started in North Carolina this year with more than 5,000 teacher vacancies in K-12 public schools. So North Carolina is allegedly worried about recruiting more teachers to the profession. But is it serious? As legislators pat themselves on the back over a budget proposal passed this month by the… READ MORE