Teachers across the state have expressed outrage at a $20.6 billion state budget that cuts funding for schools, eliminates teacher pay raises, cuts teachers’ assistants and ends teacher tenure for K-12 educators.
The budget, signed by Governor Pat McCrory on Friday, reduces state spending on education by $120 million, eliminates all teachers’ assistant positions in grades one through three, and requires remaining teacher assistants to work fewer hours and fewer days.
Additionally, it cuts 20 percent of all assistant principal jobs, 15 percent of non-teaching jobs such as custodians, and 5 percent of school support staff such as guidance counselors.
Combined with discretionary cuts, 15,000 to 18,000 school employees across the state are expected to lose their jobs.
The budget also eliminates tenure, which prevents veteran teachers from being fired quickly or arbitrarily. Instead of tenure, teachers will be employed in one-to-four-year contracts and receive merit pay based on effectiveness.
Teachers with master’s degrees will no longer receive higher pay than teachers with less advanced degrees in the future.
The budget also eliminated funding for programs that train and recruit potential teachers, including the North Carolina Center for Advancement, the High School Teaching Cadet program, the North Carolina Teacher Academy, the Professional Standards Commission and the North Carolina Teaching Fellows.
Funding for the N.C. Science Olympiad, a nonprofit organization with the mission of attracting and retaining K-12 students to areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, was also cut.
McCrory defended the budget in a statement on his website, saying that it “incorporates fiscally-responsible tax reform and lays the foundation for economic growth and job creation.”
Educators, however, disagree.
“The worst part is the complete disregard for the poor,” said Megan Mayo, a Spanish teacher at Greensboro College Middle College, during this week’s Moral Monday demonstration. “There is no other way to get out of poverty than education.”
Education was the central theme of the most recent Moral Monday protests.
Protestors wore “Public-Ed Red” to indicate their outrage over the education cuts, and teachers from across the state were bused in by the North Carolina Association of Educators.
At the same time, the NCAE has announced plans to challenge the budget in court, saying that the budget cuts and other provisions will cause teachers to leave the state in pursuit of better opportunities.
“You are placing a sign on each school’s door that says, ‘Quality educators need not apply,’” said NCAE president Rodney Ellis in a two-page letter sent to lawmakers criticizing the budget.
According to research by the National Education Association, North Carolina ranks 48th in the country in teacher pay and per-student spending, only Mississippi and West Virginia spend less.
