NCAE Dislikes Teacher Pay Proposal | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's note: This post, by Bob Luebke, was originally published in Civitas's online edition.

    NCAE is surly - again.

    The organization is not happy about a proposal (SB 818) that would give teachers their annual step increases plus a $350 bonus.

    In a statement, North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) President, Mark Jewell said, "The disrespect shown educators in this pay bill (SB 818) is egregious."

    Yes, coronavirus has forced teachers to wear many hats. However, the state is now facing an expected $4 billion dollar budget shortfall and 12.2 percent unemployment, you have to wonder; how much of a raise was NCAE expecting for teachers?

    As you can see the release did manage to share NCAE's indignation with SB 818. and also conveniently ignored that Gov. Cooper vetoed last year's budget which would have provided teachers with a pay 3.9 percent over two years. NCAE supported the veto. Cooper also vetoed state budgets which included teacher raises in 2017, and 2018 as well as other mini-budgets that would have provided teacher pay raises. Let's remember: yes times are difficult, but teachers have received pay raises every year since 2015. Between 2014 and 2018, North Carolina had the third highest cumulative growth rate for teacher pay among the fifty states.

    NCAE may have forgotten about Governor Cooper's vetoes and the raises. Others haven't.