Below is the salary schedule set for a teacher in North Carolina for the 2022-2023 school year (compared to the previous school year). It will stay in effect as long as the North Carolina General Assembly does not pass a new state budget.

Any teacher new to the profession in the last nine years would never be on a masters’ degree schedule (below) because newer teachers are not allowed a pay bump for graduate degrees. Notice how the salaries also plateau after year 15 in the current schedule.

There is no longevity pay included as it does not exist for all teachers any longer.

Now go back a few years before the Great Recession.

Fourteen years ago each salary step would have had an increase in pay.

All teachers, new and veteran, would have had graduate degree pay fourteen years ago.

All veteran teachers would have received longevity pay fourteen years ago above and beyond what the salary schedule said.

Now imagine if that same schedule was in play for teachers today and adjusted for inflation.

Oh, and now new teachers will not be able to have retiree health benefits.

That might help explain why there are thousands of classroom teaching vacancies in NC according to Teach NC Jobs.