teacher retention Archives - WakeEd

Teacher Pay in North Carolina

WakeEd — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

President’s Note

Still Waiting on a State Budget — and Still Waiting on Action for Public Schools

North Carolina is still waiting for a comprehensive state budget, and once again our public schools are feeling the impact.

Last week Governor Josh Stein, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, and House Speaker Destin Hall jointly announced the creation of a Blue Ribbon Commission on the Future of Public Education. Long-term planning for our schools is important. But the challenges facing teachers and students today are not complicated — and they are not new.

As we noted in the last issue of In Context, North Carolina ranks near the bottom nationally in teacher pay, per-pupil funding, and overall funding effort. Those rankings point to a clear underlying issue: North Carolina is simply not investing enough in its public schools.

Governor Stein has also proposed immediate investments to address urgent needs, including teacher pay. Those conversations are critical and cannot wait.

Here in Wake County, our community has stepped up. A strong local economy and leaders who prioritize public education have allowed Wake County to supplement teacher pay and invest in our schools. That commitment helps make Wake County a place where great educators want to work.

But the North Carolina Constitution places the primary responsibility for funding public education with the state — a principle at the center of the long-running Leandro case. When the state underfunds schools, the burden increasingly shifts to local communities and taxpayers.

Local support matters. But it cannot replace state responsibility.

The data in this issue helps explain why.

— Keith Poston
President, WakeEd Partnership

Teacher Pay in North Carolina

What the Data Shows — and Why It Matters for Wake County

Most North Carolina teachers reach the maximum state salary after about 15 years in the classroom — a structure that increasingly leaves local communities like Wake County filling the gap.

North Carolina’s teacher pay system tells a story that should concern every community that depends on strong public schools — including Wake County.

For most teachers with a bachelor’s degree, the state salary schedule starts at $41,000. After 15 years in the classroom, their salary reaches $53,880. And then something unusual happens: the state salary schedule essentially stops.

From year 15 through year 25 and beyond, there are no additional state salary steps for most teachers.

In practical terms, that means many educators reach their maximum state salary in their late 30s, even though they may continue teaching for another 25 or 30 years.

Few professions expect employees to spend the majority of their careers with little opportunity for salary growth.

What the Data Shows

This challenge is not just about one pay schedule. It reflects a broader pattern in how North Carolina funds public education.

According to national comparisons:

North Carolina ranks 43rd in average teacher pay
50th in per-pupil funding
50th in overall funding effort

Meanwhile, neighboring states — including South Carolina — have increased investments in teacher compensation and now rank significantly higher.

These rankings make it harder for North Carolina school districts to compete for talent in a regional and national labor market.

Wake County’s Role

Here in Wake County, local leaders have worked hard to strengthen teacher compensation.

Through county funding, Wake County provides a local salary supplement currently averaging about $9,150 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree — an increase of roughly $2,950 over the past decade.

Those local investments matter. They help make Wake County more competitive in recruiting and retaining teachers.

But they also illustrate an important reality: local communities are increasingly being asked to fill gaps left by state funding.

Wake County’s strong economy, growing tax base, and longstanding commitment to public education have made these investments possible. Many communities across North Carolina do not have that same capacity.

Why This Matters

Competitive teacher pay is not simply about fairness for educators. It directly affects the ability of schools to attract and keep talented teachers in classrooms.

When compensation lags behind other professions — or behind neighboring states — school systems face greater challenges in recruitment and retention.

Wake County has taken meaningful steps locally to support teachers. But the scale of the challenge means local communities cannot solve the issue alone.

Under North Carolina’s constitution, the state bears the primary responsibility for providing every child access to a sound basic education — including ensuring schools can recruit and retain high-quality teachers.

Wake County’s investment in teacher pay reflects a community that values strong public schools. But the data in this issue makes clear that local leadership alone cannot solve a statewide challenge.

That responsibility ultimately rests with the General Assembly.

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Attrition Report Ignores Serious ‘Brain Drain’ Among K-12 Teachers

WakeEd — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 21:21:16 +0000

The news that fewer North Carolina public school teachers have quit their jobs is a silver lining on a dark cloud of the teacher recruitment and retention pipeline. It is good news that deserves celebrating, but it is hardly an indicator of clear skies ahead.

According to a report about teacher attrition prepared for the State Board of Education this week, the fact only 7.5 percent of teachers have left the public schools to work in another industry or state is seen as an indicator of rising job satisfaction among teachers. It’s reasonable to draw that conclusion, but this is not a significant victory.

There are other factors to consider in the teacher pipeline such as early retirements and a dwindling number of new teachers entering the profession.

For example, not included in attrition rate are teachers who retired. The data shows a sharp spike to about 22 percent in the number of teachers “no longer employed by NC Public Schools” when teachers hit 27 years of service. Teachers reach full retirement age at 30 years, but there’s a disincentive in the state’s pay scale to continue teaching to year 30 or beyond.

The state pay scale for teachers levels off the salary at 15 years of service at $50,000 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no National Board certification. That plateau lasts until year 25 when the salary is increased to $52,000. This is the base salary paid by the state. Many districts, like Wake County Public School System, increase pay with local supplements which trend with the state scale.

What’s more, teachers can retire at age 50 with 20 years of service to receive reduced benefits. Teachers who started teaching at age 22 would be at 27 years of service by age 50. These are professionals who have 17 years until they reach the age for full Social Security retirement benefits. In other words, they are leaving the profession while they still have plenty of years of their working lives left.

This is a terrible “brain drain” on our public education system. The people with the most expertise and those who can best mentor the next generation of teachers are leaving at a much earlier age than they might if the pay scale compensated their expertise appropriately. This needs to change, and the responsibility rests with the General Assembly.

The other factor to consider is there are fewer college students entering teacher preparation programs nationwide, but especially in North Carolina. Despite a recent uptick of 6 percent in program enrollment in the UNC system’s colleges of education, the downward trend has led to 4,500 fewer students annually learning to become teachers. It should also be noted that enrollment is an indicator of interest, but graduation and licensure are true measures of the state’s ability to replace its retiring teacher workforce.

Based on numbers in the teacher attrition report, the state isn’t adequately replacing its teacher workforce. In fact, there’s a severe shortage of teachers across the state in large urban and small rural districts alike. The shortages occur for different reasons, but the effect of having a temporary teacher in a classroom is still the same.

The report indicated that in the 2018-19 school year there were 1,562.3 instructional vacancies across the state on the first day of school, and by the 40th day of school, or about the end of the first marking period, that number had only been reduced by only 7.3 teachers. The largest area of need was in elementary school with 603.7 vacancies, followed by exception children (special education) at 158.6 vacancies.

This is unsustainable, and the responsibility to fix this is in the hands of the General Assembly.

The legislature has increased salaries, but when adjusted for inflation teachers are earning less than they did in 2009. Teachers also used to receive a small annual increase in pay known as a “step” increase because they moved up one “step” in the salary schedule for each year of service. Well, at year 15, as mentioned above, those step increases stop for 10 years. They have also lost increases for longevity and master\’s degrees.

The salary schedule is a major hurdle for current and future teachers. It is hastening the exit of the state’s most experienced teachers and it keeps many potential teachers away from the profession. Of all the funding issues facing North Carolina’s public education system, this is the most critical one to resolve.

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BTLN: School Grade Versus Teacher Turnover

WakeEd — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 18:18:44 +0000

By: Margaret Borden | Math Teacher, Knightdale High School

“Mrs. Borden, I know I want to study schools, but there are so many variables to choose from, how in the world will I narrow this down in time?” – Kiara Bush, May 17, AP Statistics class

Since February, Kiara had been talking about how she wanted to learn more about school perception and what affects school performance, even though the project was not set to begin until after the AP exam in May. She kept noticing the Twitter feed and reviews on our school’s website, and just didn’t feel that these opinions fairly represented the school from which she was earning her education. Her AP Statistics project required her to identify something that she wanted to study to better her understanding, so she was trying to figure out which variables she should focus on in her effort to understand the misrepresentations that she was reading online.

The day she approached me for help was a few days after one of my meetings with WakeEd Partnership’s Beginning Teacher Leadership Network (BTLN). At this meeting, Teresa Pierrie, WakeEd’s Director of Programs, had invited a North Carolina house representative, Representative Von Haefen, to speak to us, and then we spent thirty minutes discussing which policy we wanted to influence. Interestingly, during this meeting, I learned that school grades were a hot topic in the legislative agenda, with multiple bills on the subject, and it seemed to be the one that our group was most interested in working on. We had a BTLN Legislative Day planned for June, and my mind was racing.

So, when my student asked me which variables she should focus on, I informed her that school grade was being discussed by the legislature and that, if she were to choose to study that for her AP Statistics project, then I would be able to get her in front of a legislator to discuss her findings. Then, a few weeks later, the Legislative Day was cancelled, and I became worried. It turned out, however, that I had little to worry about. Per Teresa’s suggestion, I emailed Representative Von Haefen, asking if we could meet with her, and if she had any other suggestions as to who I should contact. She was thrilled to meet with us and told me to contact some of the Education Committee members of the House of Representatives, just a few days before we would be arriving.

I had no idea who would respond to me with such short notice, so I emailed every single member of the Education Committee (about 22 people total), hoping for one or two responses. Before I knew it, my email was flooded with appointment times, which somehow, miraculously, did not overlap. That was how we ended up with back-to-back appointments all around the legislature from nine in the morning until two in the afternoon. I am so grateful to BTLN for providing me with the confidence to reach out and the knowledge as to how to reach out and lobby our legislators.

BTLN also helped us shape our message and gave me the tools to help my student bring a stellar pitch to the legislators. Representative Von Haefen told us that legislators like to hear about data, but they like to have stories to back it up. They also like to hear stories, but they like to have numeric evidence to back them up. For this reason, Kiara studied both the correlation between school grade and teacher turnover as well as took a random sample of interviews across the school to learn what people’s experiences were with school grade and teacher turnover. She came in armed with a beautiful infographic as well as anecdotes to explain what they were seeing, and the combination managed to impress representatives from both sides of the floor.

Had it not been for BTLN, I would have had no idea that school grade was being discussed in the general assembly, I would have had no idea how to get in to go see legislators, and I would not have known that we needed both stories and numbers in order to make the best impression. Without BTLN, Kiara would have done a spectacular project on some other interesting school variables, presented it to her classmates, and then been done for the year. Because of BTLN, both Kiara and I have now experienced how to engage with our legislators, and I know we will both be continuing advocacy work in the future due to this experience.

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