How Teachers Can Give Themselves a Raise

Gov. Pat McCrory on Tuesday blasted the North Carolina Association of Educators, saying statements made by the teachers organization in recent weeks has led to confusion over teacher pay raises included in the state budget. “I think the NCAE is misrepresenting the facts,” McCrory said at a news conference when asked about longevity pay for veteran teachers. “I guarantee that, had others proposed this type of increase, the NCAE would be cheering,” he said. “It was probably the wrong party that recommended it.”

Moreover, Senate Leader Phil Berger attempts to set the record straight here, and provides the following example to illustrate:

“As shown in the salary schedule (attached), a teacher who was in step 15 this past school year was paid a total of $40,542 including longevity pay,” Berger said. “When the teacher moves to step 16 this school year, he or she will receive a raise to $43,500. This amounts to a 7.3 percent raise on total compensation (including longevity pay) from the year prior – disproving rumors that the General Assembly is using longevity pay to ‘inflate’ raises.”

While on the subject of NCAE and salaries, it is a good time to remind readers that NCAE executives live large off the backs of dues paid by rank-and-file teachers and educators. Research by the Civitas Institute showed that the average compensation of top NCAE execs is $180,000, compared to about $46,000 for teachers. In the last few years, NCAE membership has been dwindling, and as such so has revenue to the organization. But that hasn’t stopped NCAE execs from increasing their already eye-popping salaries. If teachers are unsatisfied with the latest boost in compensation, perhaps they would consider giving themselves a raise – by dropping out of the NCAE.