James D. Hogan, a former high school English teacher who now teaches in a liberal arts college, decided to fact check the North Carolina legislature’s claim of a “historic pay raise” for the state’s teachers. Other states have been luring North Carolina teachers away with a promise of higher salaries. North Carolina has more National Board Certified Teachers an any other state. The state’s elected officials have taken a lot of criticism for freezing teacher salaries since 2008, and now they are running for re-election boasting of the new teacher pay scales.
So Hogan compared the pay scales for 2008 to the projected pay scales for 2014-15.
Hogan found:
“If you only look at the 2013-14 numbers, the proposed budget looks like a great deal–an average pay increase of $2,129, thanks mostly to the big jumps in the first 12 years of the pay scale. But when you stack the proposed 2014-15 scale next to the 2008-09 scale, the numbers tell a different story. Under that scenario, out of the 32 steps of the scale, 13 pay grades earn less money in the 2014-15 budget. The average pay increase is $270. Read that again: if we were simply comparing the proposed 2014-15 salary schedule to the 2008-09 salary schedule, the average teacher would see a pay increase of $270.
“Further more, these are raw numbers. What that comparison fails to take into account is the simple cost of inflation over the last 6 years. If the 2008-09 salary schedule had been kept in place and updated each year to account for inflation, the average teacher would earn $4,212 more than the 2014-15 proposed budget would pay them. Again: if we simply adopted the 2008-09 salary schedule this year and adjusted it for inflation, the average teacher would make $4,212 more.”
Another interesting fact:
Under the new salary schedule for 2014-2015, it takes 30 years of teaching to reach a salary of $50,000 a year.
Hogan’s solution:
“Our state legislators tell us they value public education. This year, they’re offering a tiny bit of compensation and billing it as a historic raise. What they’ve yet to do, so far, is admit that rebuilding and restoring our public school system to a funding level it experienced within this decade will mean raising taxes.”
See more at: http://www.forum.jamesdhogan.com/2014/07/the-pay-scale-no-politician-wants-you.html#sthash.P2Ba0XjX.dpuf
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for the posting and the research. I’m e-mailing it to friends in N.C.
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What’s up with the pay decrease in Step 31 in the 2013-2014 schedule? Subtle hint to retire?
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This is the exact same scam they pulled in Broward County. It looks like North Carolina is taking its cues from Florida. Let’s rob Peter to pay Paul. They are trying to assure that no teacher ever makes it to the top of any salary scale. The district is even offering teachers at the top of the scale buyouts or flat out harassing them with unfair evaluations in order to force them out. I’ve been teaching for 13 years yet I’m on step 7. These lost steps will never be recovered instead the district now gives bonuses. Recently our district rewrote the salary scale and also introduced a performance pay scale (which is contingent upon funding wink wink). A teacher now on the new traditional scale moves one step every 3 years on a schedule which has 22 steps. So let’s do some basic math; it now takes a teacher 66 years to make $72000. This of course is a scam designed to force teachers into the performance pay scale which of course comes with a catch. Once the switch is made into the performance scale a teacher loses his or her tenure and thus becomes an annual contract teacher for the rest of their lives. If the teacher switches to a different district within the same state they also lose their tenure and become an annual contract teacher. In my case if I switched from the traditional to the performance pay plan I would make roughly $2000 more than I currently do. Thanks but no thanks! These crooks have also managed to reduce the stipends for everything under the sun such as teaching an extra class and becoming and department head. My district also boldly changed the high school schedule from a 6 period day to a 7 period day without compensating the teachers for the extra class taught. This was of course challenged in court and the judge sided with the teachers. The Union however agreed to allow the district a 5 year repayment window to give back to the teachers what was flat out stolen from them. These bastards and that is a nice term since I know how Diane feels about foul language on this blog want every teacher to make $40,000 for life with no benefits and zero job protections while they sit high and mighty completely unaccountable to the rest of the world. Our superintendent is an Obama crony from Chicago who has managed to take an already troubled district and transform into a deplorable one. I’m just glad that I have 3 pre requisite courses left before I return to school to become an anesthesiologist assistant where I will be respected and compensated as such. Hell I’ve even contemplated quitting this Monday which would be our first day back from summer break. The US is going down the toilet folks we are the fast track to becoming Mexico a land of the haves and the flat out broke. Get out while you can and do me a favor quit your Union; it was bought a long time ago. They have been willingly sitting on the sidelines accepting cash from the very people who are trying to destroy our profession as well as our personal livelihood.
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I’m exposing my ignorance here, but is this NC schedule the full salary for all public school teachers in the state, or the “state portion” only?
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It is the state rate- many counties give a small supplement.
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I meant to say “becoming a department head in the above post” not “becoming and department head” these damn smartphones with the stupid auto correct function that doesn’t work properly. It must have been designed by Bill Gates.
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This explains politicians preaching for education are pathetic. I think their salaries should be freezed for the next 30 years.
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Ken Watanabe: what is truly pathetic is their clumsy attempt to obfuscate, mislead, intimidate and lie using math.
And never forget that when it comes to wars and occupations and giant corporations and banks, there is never enough money for those things considered “too big to fail” by the establishment. But for public education, supposedly the key to economic prosperity and political stability and military security—the current state of public education is supposedly an existential threat to the very existence of the US of A!—the vast majority will just have to do more and more and more but with less and less and less.
No wonder the defenders of the status quo are so reluctant to be transparent. Their claims can’t stand even a glimmer of a ray of sunshine.
Thank you for your comments.
😎
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In Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified (CA) this week the Board HIRED A 2ND SUPERINTENDENT.
They are keeping the INCOMPETENT old one to train the incompetent new one. New one will implement Common Core.
Keeping the predecessor is $300,000.
That would have given Teachers a 2% RAISE!
Now there is no money for that RAISE! (see LA Times http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-palos-verdes-supt-20140806-story.html)
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I taught for 39 years, the last 34 in OK…NEVER made $50,000. I watch with horror what’s happening in NC, assuming our anti-education politicians are taking notes…thank you for this information.
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Cross posted at OPED news:
with this comment…
In NYC the touted contract, gave teachers who had been without a raise for years, a raise that would come in over 9 years… which is a joke, because the topdown administrators today, balance the budget by ridden ghte school of teachers who are ending probationary periods. No matter how talented or dedicated these novice teachers are, they are sent out the door to be replaced with a new crop of ‘teachers’ at an entry level salary…. few ill ever see the raise of ver nine years, because the statistics how that 50% are gone in 3 years, and 80% are gone in five years.
Can you spell SCAM. it rhymes with ‘propaganda’ and with LIES!
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