Imagine this weird scenario: a state that has more Nationally Board Certified Teachers than any other state in the nation; a state where 96% of the teachers are rated proficient; a state where the legislature is coming up with every trick in the book to demoralize and harass their excellent teachers.

That is North Carolina.

As Yevonne Brannan, chairman of Public Schools First NC, explains it, North Carolina once ranked 21st in the nation in teacher pay, but is now 46th. The legislature ignores the fact that more than half the children in the state live in poverty and blames the teachers. So the legislature enacts law after law to drive teachers away, losing many great teachers in the meanwhile.

To make sure that any bad teacher could be immediately fired, the legislature abolished tenure, putting every teacher on a year-to-year contract. The legislature eliminated extra pay for additional degrees, thus letting teachers know how little the legislators care for education itself (imagine a teacher wanting to learn more!). The legislature instituted merit pay, assuming that the promise of a bonus would improve student test scores; the fact that merit pay has never worked anywhere was no problem for this legislature, which seems to know nothing about education or teaching or children or 21st century psychology (quick, give the legislators a copy of Daniel Pink’s “Drive,” which explains what motivate people).

The good news is that the public in North Carolina does not agree with their elected officials. Brannon writes: Thankfully, N.C. residents overwhelmingly support teachers getting a pay increase for completing a master’s degree (83 percent). Moreover, 76 percent of North Carolinians agree that public school teachers are paid too little, and 71 percent agree we cannot keep the best and most qualified teachers with the current pay scale.

Now it is time for parent, grandparents, neighbors, civic leaders, business leaders, and everyone who cares about the future of North Carolina to let their legislators know that they must respect and honor their hard-working teachers and take action to retain them.