North Carolina teachers say rising costs outpace proposed pay raises

When Matt Townsend began teaching in North Carolina in 1998, he expected a career that would always provide stability and a pathway to the middle class. Back then, teachers received annual raises, longevity pay rewarded years of service, health insurance came without monthly premiums, and salaries continued to grow throughout a teacher’s career. 

Nearly three decades later, Townsend says many of those benefits have disappeared. 

“Longevity pay has been stripped away. Master’s pay has been stripped away. The entire ladder has been compressed. In fact, there’s a singular step from year 15 to year 25 now. All the steps are gone, and the proposed budget seeks to compress it even more. If the trend follows, you’re going to have a year 1 teacher and a year 30 teacher making virtually the same check,” Townsend said. 

His concerns come as lawmakers continue negotiating a new state budget. The state’s last comprehensive budget became law in October 2023, and lawmakers have since relied on continuation spending measures to cover expenses while budget talks continued. As a result, teachers did not receive salary increases last year, even as housing costs, grocery prices, and healthcare and other living costs continued to climb. 

Republican leaders in the General Assembly are promoting a budget proposal that would provide teachers with an average pay raise of 8%. Legislative leaders have said the proposal is an unprecedented move designed to improve teacher recruitment by increasing starting salaries and making North Carolina more competitive with neighboring states. Gov. Josh Stein had previously proposed larger raises of 11% as part of additional funding for teacher compensation and public schools. 

Townsend said the proposed 8% pay raise doesn’t fully account for years of inflation and growing costs. He said that the average increase masks differences in how this bump in pay could show up for new and for veteran teachers. 

“There is likely going to be the appearance of a raise,” Townsend said. “If you give one teacher a 15% raise, another teacher a 1% raise, and you add it together, that’s your 8% for your average. It’s a big raise on the bottom. It’s basically a cut at the top.”

According to an April report from the National Education Association teachers union, North Carolina ranks 43rd in the nation for average teacher pay and 38th for average starting teacher salary. Education advocates and unions warn the state could fall to 46th for the 2025-2026 school year as neighboring states increase educator compensation. 

Those rankings have prompted legislative action. In May, House Democrats introduced House Bill 1130, known as the Re-Professionalizing the Teacher Profession bill. During a June 16 news conference, Rep. Amanda Cook said the legislation is designed to address growing retention problems among veteran teachers. She said the proposed bill would also restore master’s pay, recognize experienced educators through a revised salary schedule, and create additional incentives such as an exploratory sabbatical program.  

While attention is turned to teacher pay during budget negotiations, Townsend pointed out, those concerns are compounded by mounting day-to-day expenses creating pressure that often varies based on where educators are in their careers. 

“I see a story of two struggles. You have young teachers, and young teachers are often struggling with college debt and struggling to find affordable housing. They’re trying to start their lives, and sometimes they’re trying to do that on a $41,000 salary while paying off college debt, with the cost of gas and groceries and housing and insurance and everything else,” Townsend explained. “I’ve seen teachers in teacher lounges crying over what should be a trivial bill for a professional, a flat tire. Then you have the struggles of veteran teachers that have been having their wages eroded for 15 years under inflation as they start to encounter sending a kid to college or they start to encounter health concerns, having to have the cost for their home go up due to rising insurance costs, rising property taxes that are trying to fill in the gap in the state. So you have struggle on both ends.”

Healthcare costs also remain a growing concern for educators. Approved changes to the state health plan will increase premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for many state employees next year, including teachers. 

Townsend said many educators worry those increases could offset much of any future raise they receive. 

Public school advocates say it’s these types of pressures that are contributing to the teacher retention challenges in the state. 

Heather Koons, director of research and communications for Public Schools First NC, said teacher turnover often leaves districts relying on less-experienced teachers, substitutes, and emergency certified staff, particularly in rural and high-poverty areas. 

“The students are the ones who are really at risk here because the state is not doing what it should be, and constitutionally is required to do, by providing a sound basic education for all students,” Koons said. 

Koons said addressing the problem will require more than a one-time salary increase. She argued lawmakers must make a long-term commitment to raising teacher pay throughout educators’ careers and ensuring salaries remain competitive. 

“The most obvious solution — and this can’t be a small-step solution, it has to be a really concerted effort — is to increase the state salary schedule so at all levels, at all points on the teacher’s trajectory, our teaching salaries are competitive with all of our neighboring states’. You just have to look at South Carolina to see that we are way behind, and so the budget this year with this average 8% is not going to do it,” Koons said. 

North Carolina’s new fiscal year begins on July 1, but lawmakers have not yet reached a final budget agreement. If a deal isn’t reached, the state will continue operating under existing spring spending authority while negotiations continue. 

Townsend said lawmakers should consider what kind of teaching profession North Carolina wants to build for the future and whether it will be sustainable for the next generation of educators. 

“When I came into education, I had three veteran teachers quickly take me under their wing, show me the ropes,” said Townsend. “You weren’t making a lot of money as a beginning educator, but there was a path to a middle-class lifestyle and a comfortable retirement. If that’s not there, how can you ask people in good faith to go and incur the debt and investment of seeking a college degree, getting licensed as a teacher for something where there’s so little hope for you to be able to own a home, to be able to retire?”