Raleigh, N.C. – Though North Carolina has passed 18 states in national teacher pay rankings since 2014 after five consecutive raises from the Republican-led General Assembly that produced the third-fastest rising educator salaries in the nation, Gov. Cooper announced Friday he would block additional take-home pay increases for public school teachers.
Teachers have received a nearly 20% salary increase under Republican leadership in the state General Assembly since 2014. Over 44,000 teachers in North Carolina – nearly half – received at least a $10,000 raise from the Republican-led General Assembly since 2014.
Teachers have received nearly three times the salary increases as other state employees over that span on their way to the third fastest rising pay in the nation according to data from the National Education Association. None of those raises were signed by Gov. Cooper.
“North Carolina’s remarkable rally in the national teacher pay rankings since 2014 has all been in spite of Gov. Cooper’s vetoes of higher take-home pay for educators,” said state House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland).
“His refusal to raise teacher pay in favor of playing political games on separate issues is causing real harm to educators’ families, who benefited immensely from Republican pay raises until he took office and began blocking them to pursue his other priorities.”
” Instead of having more money over the holidays, teachers will continue to wait for Gov. Cooper to put their needs ahead of other issues.”