If a lawmaker in Raleigh is really being honest, then he/she would have to acknowledge that the revamped teacher salary scale and removal of graduate degree pay are ways to make sure that when teachers retire, they will not be receiving as much in retirement pay as in the past.

Consider that a teacher’s pension pretty much relies on the average pay he/she receives in the last four years of service as a public school teacher. If a teacher now retires making less than what he/she would have made on the 2008-2009 salary scale (adjusted for inflation and giving graduate degree pay), then the state is literally “saving” money.

Consider the salary scales from 2008-2009:

Freeze that scale over a thirty-year career for a teacher in NC. If that teacher had a “Bachelor’s” certificate, then the average salary over the last four years would be $51,117 – in 2008-2009 money without adjustment for inflation.

If that teacher had a “Master’s” certificate, then the average salary over the last four years would be $56,230 – in 2008-2009 money without adjustment for inflation.

Below is the salary schedule for this school year that is over a decade removed from the one listed above.

Freeze that scale over a thirty-year career for a teacher in NC. If that teacher had a “Bachelor’s” certificate, then the average salary over the last four years would be $54,000.

If that teacher had a “Master’s” certificate, then the average salary over the last four years would be $54,000. Why? Becasue graduate degree pay was taken for teachers who entered the profession after 2014.

If one adjusted those 2008-2009 figures for inflation  (from August 2008 to January 2023 on the CPI calculator) then it would be $69,802.15 for the Bachelor’s certificate and $76,784.14 for the Master’s certificate. 

The state says that $54,000 is better.

And they want to require a financial literacy class.