NCGOP Effectively Cuts Teacher Pay

North Carolina teachers are already the lowest paid in the South and among the lowest paid in the nation but thanks to Republicans in the General Assembly, their take home pay is only decreasing. Because of Republicans’ inability to pass a real budget and cost increases on the State Health Plan, teachers across North Carolina are effectively having their pay cut.

New reporting from the News & Observer on Wake County schools showed that “84% of the district’s employees will have higher health insurance costs next year.” The article also highlighted that many will either see “a doubling in their deductibles or sharp increases in their monthly premiums.” Similar trends will occur in school districts across North Carolina.

“North Carolina’s teachers are facing an effective pay cut with the cost of health insurance and the cost of living continuing to rise. Republican leaders in the General Assembly need to bring us back to Raleigh to approve a comprehensive state budget with real teacher pay raises instead of calling off votes for the rest of the year. North Carolinians deserve much better from their state,” said North Carolina House Democratic Leader Robert Reives.

“If the NCGOP worked half as hard for the people of North Carolina as they do for Donald Trump, we’d have had a budget well before the deadline, Medicaid wouldn’t be critically underfunded, and teachers and state employees would have gotten the raises they deserve months ago. North Carolina teachers are already the lowest paid teachers in the south and thanks to the NCGOP’s inability to pass a budget their take home pay continues to decrease while the cost of living and inflation only skyrocket,” said NCDP Chair Anderson Clayton. “While they wait for their next set of marching orders from Donald Trump, the least the General Assembly could do is pass a budget that ensures that teachers don’t make even less next year.”