As the daughter of a dedicated, always optimistic elementary school teacher, I have been appalled at the war the North Carolina legislators have waged against our public schools, public school teachers and public school students in the past decade.
In her first year of marriage, Mother drove 35 miles each way through upstate New York winters to finish her first college degree to be able to teach. After she was widowed and for all the years until she retired she took classes every school year Saturday and every summer school. She completed a master’s degree when I graduated from high school and only needed a thesis for a doctorate when she retired. Teaching gave her the means to support two children and a nice home, to travel when we left home and to live comfortably when she retired.
The following is from The Progressive Pulse, a blog from NC Policy Watch. Find it at http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org.
Consider the facts of the last several years:
- NC teachers earn 5 percent less, on average, than they did before the recession when numbers are adjusted for inflation.
- Our state today spends 2 percent lessper pupil than it did prior to the recession, ranking 39th in the nation.
- Staffing ratios for school counselors, psychologists, and social workers are far belowwhat industry recommends, leaving our students without the social and emotional support they desperately need.
- Teachers have lost due process rights, longevity pay, and pay increases for graduate degrees. New hires after January 1, 2021 will not enjoyretiree health benefits.
- Legislators removed the capon charter schools, 173 of which are currently adding substantial fiscal pressure to cash-starved districts.
- We’ve lost nearly 7,500 teacher assistantsdue to state budget cuts, crippling teachers’ abilities to differentiate instruction and manage behavior.
- Health insurance premiums have skyrocketed. Teachers responsible for insuring their families now pay an average of nearly $10,000 a year.
- The General Assembly implemented a new principal performance pay system, which will result in some school leaders suffering pay reductionsof more than $20,000, leading to early retirements.
- Despite some progress, a bungled class size reduction leaves schools with unfunded capital needs and almost 7,000 new teaching positionsthat will be difficult to fill, especially considering the hostile landscape detailed above.
In addition, while lawmakers have tried recently to gussy up their years of disinvestment with modest pay hikes for some teachers, that doesn’t begin make up for the thousands of lost jobs the cuts to text books, facilities and numerous other essentials.
The bottom line: It’s not ideal that thousands of teachers will have to take May 16 off and it will likely cause some inconvenience, but given the dire state of education policy right now in North Carolina, it’s hard to see how the teachers have any other choice. Let’s hope the turnout is large and loud because, goodness knows, a major policy shift is sorely needed.
