NC Teacher Pay: Starting at the Beginning, a Very Good Place to Start

NC Governor Pat McCrory, along with leaders of the NC General Assembly, announced this morning that they intend to raise the state minimum teacher salary from $30,800 to $35,000 over the next two years.  This announcement comes in response to a chorus of calls to increase teacher compensation in North Carolina, which has languished in the years since the 2008 recession.  

Many of these calls make reference to average teacher compensation, and any AP statistics student should be able to tell you that there's more than one way to raise the average.  You could take the $200 million the General Assembly is committing to this first round of teacher pay increases, give it to one person, and have the exact same effect on the average as giving it in equal measure to all teachers.  Critical commentary has already started to trickle in about this proposal, from those worried that focusing resources on beginning teachers will leave out many veterans.  

Devastated at GOP teacher pay plan on behalf of NC's teachers. Most get nothing at all. #NCpol #NCedu

— Aim Higher NC (@AimHigherNC) February 10, 2014

For now, experienced teachers must be content with the governor's promise that this is just the first step in reforming teacher compensation in North Carolina.

There are several reasons why raising starting salaries makes sense as a first step.

1. North Carolina's starting teacher salaries lag the most.  North Carolina's average teacher salaries lag behind those in neighboring states, as the data drawn from the National Education Association show below.  The salary gap is largest among starting teachers.  The average teacher in Virginia makes about $2,800 more than the average teacher in North Carolina.  The gap in starting salaries is more than twice the size, a whopping $6,000.  If you know your statistics, you understand that to reconcile a huge gap in starting salaries with a narrower gap in the average, there must be some teachers in North Carolina who fare much better relative to those in other states.  So if you ask the question "which teachers in North Carolina are the most underpaid," the answer is new teachers.
2. Raising the lowest salaries first eases the most hardship for the buck.  In North Carolina, beginning teachers earning the state's minimum salary may be eligible for food stamps.  A teacher with a master's degree and 20 years' experience earns a minimum of $47,710, more than 50% above the compensation for a new teacher.  This is not to say that the experienced teacher is overpaid, but if government prioritizes helping the most disadvantaged first, once again raising base pay makes the most sense.
3. Beginning teachers have the highest turnover rates.  It is true that low pay creates retention problems in the teacher workforce.  Numerous studies have established, however, that the real turnover problems occur during the first few years on the job -- among the very teachers who are targeted with this pay increase.  So aside from thinking about equity, the increase in base pay will likely have the biggest bang for the buck in terms of reducing turnover.
4. The big gap between highest and lowest steps on the NC salary scale is hard to justify.  North Carolina's salary schedule ranges from $30,800 at the bottom to $68,050 at the top -- some teachers earn more than twice as much as others with the exact same job description.  This could be justifiable if there were evidence supporting the notion that the more highly compensated teachers are better at their jobs.  But it's actually hard to find that evidence.
5. Shoring up the foundation is easy, building on it is hard.  It will probably be impossible to find a politician who would argue against the statement "no teacher in North Carolina should earn less than $35,000 per year."  Likewise, the statement "experienced, high-performing teachers should earn more than the minimum" would achieve an easy consensus.  But on what basis should teachers be promoted?  The traditional way, by earning advanced degrees and spending more years on the job?  Or on the basis of performance -- the way North Carolina rewards National Board certified teachers today?  Building the structure on top of the foundation will require finesse.  Starting with a good-faith initiative to help those teachers at the bottom of the scale should help the administration broker further conversations about what to do next.

Good teachers are worth much more than even the $68,050 at the top of the NC salary schedule.  For this reason I hope, as most observers would, that this is just the first step in a more comprehensive reform.  But it's a good first step, and I am hopeful.