A reader sends an update on teacher pay in the benighted state of North Carolina:
Gov. Roy Cooper proposes a major, multi-year investment in North Carolina teachers. 5% average raise this year and next year. Under his plan, NC would rank best in the Southeast in 3 years and reach at least the national average in 5 years. He also proposes a teacher supply stipend to be paid directly to the teacher at the start of the school year.
Sounds like Governor Cooper didn’t get the memo about throwing the teachers under the bus. How will he finance it? According to The Charlotte Observer, some promised tax cuts may not occur, but given GOP dominance in the legislature, that will be a tussle, so Cooper is hoping to bring in some unusual allies:
“I’m going to be asking the business community to go the General Assembly and say, ‘Don’t cut the corporate tax rate again. Instead, raise teacher pay,’ ” Cooper said at a January gathering of education advocates in Raleigh.
I expect the smart businesses will work with him on that.
