McCrory budget proposal is too little, too late for NC teachers

Election-year budget charade fails to undo the damage McCrory and allies have already done to public schools

RALEIGH -- If Gov. McCrory thought his new budget proposal would help save his sinking re-election chances, he may be in for some disappointment. This isn’t the first time Gov. McCrory has made big election-year promises to North Carolina teachers, but the devil is always in the details -- and this latest budget charade does nothing to reverse the long-term cuts to our public schools.

When you compare Gov. McCrory’s proposed budget with education funding before the Great Recession began in 2008, North Carolina would still be spending $588 less per student under Gov. McCrory’s proposal. Textbook funding under Gov. McCrory’s latest proposal would still be $60 million less than before the recession, and funding for teacher assistants would be nearly $200 million less than pre-recession levels.

“Gov. McCrory’s latest budget charade is simply too little, too late for North Carolina teachers,” said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC Action. “Despite the governor’s big promises, this proposal utterly fails to undo the damage lawmakers have already done to public education. North Carolina teachers are tired of being treated like election-year pawns by politicians who only seem to care about public schools when their own necks are on the line.”

So what else can we expect from Gov. McCrory’s budget proposal?

• More bogus promises on teacher pay rankings
  Gov. McCrory says his budget would raise teacher pay to 32nd in the nation. But that’s exactly what they said about last year’s budget, yet North Carolina still ranks 42nd. The governor fails to acknowledge that other states are also raising teacher pay. So how does his math add up?
   
• More smoke and mirrors on step increases
  Just two years after “simplifying” the salary schedule by changing it from yearly step increases to five-year blocks, the governor now wants to go back to a yearly schedule. But he still hasn’t released a proposed step schedule, which usually means bad news for many teachers once the details finally come out.
  
  
• More one-time bonuses instead of meaningful permanent increases
  As we saw last year with Gov. McCrory’s “chicken feed” budget, one-time bonuses are just a short-term gimmick to get past the next election. They do nothing to improve teachers’ overall situation, and certainly do not make up for years of disrespect from Gov. McCrory and his allies.
   
• More teacher assistants disappearing from our schools
  North Carolina has lost over 7,000 teachers assistants since before the recession, and Gov. McCrory’s budget contains no serious plans to fix that. Teacher assistants play a vital role in North Carolina classrooms, but lawmakers have repeatedly tried to cut TA funding even further.
  
  
• More meaningless political theatre
  At the end of the day, Gov. McCrory's budget proposals are irrelevant political theatre.  Legislative leaders have very little respect for McCrory or his proposals, and the governor usually ends up signing whatever lawmakers send him. Meanwhile, Sen. Berger has already shot down plans for any kind of meaningful teacher pay raise.
  
  
• More teachers leaving the state or leaving the profession altogether
  Teacher turnover in North Carolina is at an all-time high, as more and more experienced educators leave the state for better pay or leave teaching altogether. Other states will continue to hold job fairs in North Carolina to lure away underpaid teachers, further reducing the quality of our state’s public education system.

“Gov. McCrory's budget proposal continues to show his misplaced priorities of tax cuts for corporations and people at the top, but long-term cuts to public schools and our children,” added Brenner. “The governor keeps making claims about a so-called ‘Carolina Comeback,’ but when is the funding for textbooks and teacher assistants coming back? Where is a long-term plan to raise teacher pay to the national average and stop the exodus of qualified, experienced teachers from our state? North Carolina teachers and students deserve better."