The bottom line is that Gov. Pat McCrory’s budget would increase K-12 education spending by 2.8 percent, or $235 million more, than the 2014-15 N.C. state budget.
The governor’s budget would direct a massive amount of taxpayer money to school-based employees. This includes raising beginning teacher pay to $35,000 per year, moving all teachers to the next tier on the state salary schedule, and retaining the one-time bonus granted last year to experienced teachers.
These three line items would direct over $111 million to teachers each year for the next two years. State agency teachers and school-based administrators also would receive salary increases.
The North Carolina Education Endowment Fund would receive a $15 million boost from this budget. This fund, the brainchild of Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, was set up last year to serve as a permanent source of funds for a teacher performance pay plan. This is a long-overdue investment in a system rewarding the state’s best teachers.
Another positive step is the addition of more than $70 million over the next two years for instructional materials and equipment. School districts would have the flexibility to spend these funds according to the needs and demands of their districts. Districts that choose to invest in technology would be able to do so, while others may choose to restock their textbook supply.
The single largest K-12 increase is the $100 million allocation to fund school enrollment growth in the 2015-16 budget year and $207 million for enrollment increases the following year. Much of this would pay for hundreds of new teaching positions.
In the past, funding for enrollment growth was incorporated into the budget. Due to a change approved by the N.C. General Assembly last year, budget writers now will be required to include enrollment growth as an expansion item.
While this move increases transparency, some argue that future legislatures will not be compelled to fund enrollment growth in its entirety. It is clear, however, that the governor’s budget does not shortchange the projected increase in student enrollment.
There are disappointments, however. The failure to increase the budget for the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which gives private school scholarships to low-income children, is troubling. According to Civitas Institute polls of likely North Carolina voters, vouchers continue to enjoy support across the state.
More important, low-income children finally have opportunities previously available only to their wealthy peers, that is, to attend private schools that better meet their social, moral, and intellectual needs. Surely scholarships for low-income children are a better use of taxpayer money than maintaining teacher assistant funding, which would receive an additional $64 million a year under the governor’s plan.
Despite a budget that increases K-12 education spending significantly, the governor’s political opponents will continue to claim that the state is underfunding public schools. This is the instinctive reaction of those who believe that the state never can spend enough taxpayer money on public education.
Other naysayers will object to specific decisions, such as cutting the N.C. Department of Public Instruction budget by 10 percent or failing to give veteran teachers a raise comparable to beginning teachers. While the legislature will consider multiple options for raising teacher pay, I suspect that the DPI cut is here to stay.
In fact, there are multiple points of agreement between McCrory and Republican legislators. For example, legislators agree that the starting teacher base salary should be $35,000 a year. They also recognize the need to increase funding for instructional materials and equipment, particularly digital learning.
When the House and Senate begin developing their respective budget recommendations, the main K-12 education issues on the table will be the funding level for projected enrollment increases and teacher assistant funding.
To borrow a phrase from the NFL Draft, the House is on the clock.
Dr. Terry Stoops (@TerryStoops) is Director of Research and Education Studies for the John Locke Foundation.