Scott Sexton’s column in today’s Winston-Salem Journal is only repeating what most teachers who have been in our public schools have known for years: North Carolina sucks at paying its teachers.

But it is very important to keep informing the public of what is happening.

Three specific items he highlights:

Per the data, North Carolina ranks dead last among Southern states in minimum starting salaries for public-school teachers. That puts us looking up at Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and yeah, Mississippi.

The very lawmakers who have made this a reality are also the same lawmakers who readjusted the teacher salary scale in a claim to boost beginning teacher pay so that they could realize immediate rewards.

Secondly,

N.C. teachers salaries are frozen by law from years 15 through 24, which kneecaps the earning power of veteran teachers.

That’s ten years of frozen, stagnant pay for teachers in the prime of their careers and positioned to be of upmost importance to the health of public schools.

And this,

You’d think we’d want to reward experience.

Lawmakers don’t. That’s why they took away graduate degree pay, due-process rights, and longevity pay from veteran teachers. North Carolina wants the most inexperienced and passive teacher pool it can find.

Easier to manipulate and control.

Sexton refers mainly in this article to a report by Public Schools First NC, an incredible resource for public school advocates.