One of the best benefits of being a veteran teacher and one of the best ways to help people commit to a full career to the teaching profession is the pension plan. Retirement is based on the average of four highest paid years of a teacher’s career. According to the 2024-2025 salary schedule, the most … Continue reading So, They Want To Take Away Teacher Pension?

Consider that North Carolina has routinely for the last ten-plus years ranked at the bottom of states in the country at funding its public schools. And then consider how much money has been steered into unregulated private school vouchers here in North Carolina, how much corporate taxes have been lowered over the last decade, and … Continue reading Funding NC’s Public Schools: Attendance Vs. Enrollment

Here is the salary schedule that is in place for the 2024-2025 school year. For those who are not teachers, make sure to pay attention to years 15-24. Frozen. Like that precipitation outside in many NC homes right now. 10 years of the same. There is no longevity pay during these years as well. Someone … Continue reading There Are Other Things FROZEN In NC Such As Teacher Salaries

Look closely at what the new NC State Treasurer says in this recent report. “We are going to have to do a number of uncomfortable things. With a $507 million shortfall, the uncomfortable pieces are now inevitable. The obvious one is premiums. Those have been held flat for a decade, and I commend Treasurer Folwell … Continue reading When The Insurance Premiums Teachers Pay Keep Up With Inflation, But Salaries Don’t

This is certainly not too surprising given the way this state has treated its social services and its employees. From last August: “The North Carolina State Health Plan may be unable to stay afloat by fall 2026, according to State Treasurer Dale Folwell. Why the state legislature is withholding the funds needed to keep the … Continue reading So, How’s The New Health Care Plan Working For You?

Renaming large bodies of water and winners of duly elected offices seem to be on the menu today. First: "The North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order on Tuesday blocking the state from certifying a winner in the race for a seat on the high court." The highest court of law in the state actually … Continue reading The “Gulf Of America” & The Horrible Civics Lesson Being Taught At The NC Supreme Court

That “slide” above is from a 2019 presentation about the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) Retirement Planning. 2019 was before the COVID-19 pandemic. It would be interesting and predictably disheartening to question LEA HR directors about how many calls they are fielding from veteran teachers concerning retirement and early retirement requirements and possibilities. As … Continue reading NC Doesn’t Have To Just Worry About Recruiting Teacher Candidates. It Needs To Worry About Retaining Current Teachers.

Sen. Phil Berger and his cronies have had over 12 years to “improve” our public education system. 12. More than the number of grades in a standard progression through a public school. Here are a few of the actions taken in those 12+ years. 1. Teacher Pay Kept Well Below National Average 2. Removal of Due-Process Rights  … Continue reading They’ve Had Over 12 Years To “Fix” Public Education. Instead They Have Been Tearing It Apart.

If you have been a teacher in North Carolina for at least 20 years, you will remember that public school teachers do not get longevity pay any longer. Similar to an annual bonus, longevity pay is something that all state employees in North Carolina — except, now, for teachers — gain as a reward for continued service. … Continue reading So, Are Public School Teachers State Employees Or Local Employees? (Depends On Who Doesn’t Want To Raise Salaries).

Oftentimes, most of the bills and mandates that get thrown around in Raleigh during the long and short sessions go unseen in the public eye. There is just not enough time and bandwidth to research everything much less know where to investigate. Added to that is the intentional misleading maneuvering that goes into crafting legislation … Continue reading How To Track NCGA Education Bills