Several weeks ago, I predicted budget negotiations in Raleigh would lead to a windfall for public education. I was right on the money.
Last Thursday, the North Carolina General Assembly passed the 2006-07 state budget, totaling $18.7 billion, funded by – you guessed it – the unsuspecting taxpayer. The K-12 education establishment and its lobbyists are rubbing their hands with glee. Spending will jump to an all-time high, representing an increase of 9.6 percent over last year’s budget. The state education monopoly now comprises 38 percent of the state’s General Fund, with the final amount of $6,719,751,118 coming from conference committee compromises.
In case you haven’t heard, a large portion of the increase is due to an average 8 percent across-the-state teacher pay raise. This salary increase comes at the behest of well-connected, powerful lobbyists representing the North Carolina Association of Educators (our state’s National Education Association affiliate).
But will this practice of hiking salaries across the board really lure the best and brightest teachers to North Carolina schools? Not likely. After all, there’s no real strategy behind universal pay raises, since there’s no effort to link pay with performance. As American writer Gertrude Stein would say, “there’s no ‘there’ there.” North Carolina’s broad-based pay schedule (PDF), instead, calculates salaries based on years of employment and education training. So the pay stubs of strong teachers and really weak ones are indistinguishable from one another. Better teachers aren’t rewarded, just those who stick around forever and take lots of classes.
We’d be far better off allocating our hard-earned tax dollars to pay effective teachers more – a whole lot more. And while we’re at it, shouldn’t we augment the salaries of instructors willing to take slots in hard-to-fill subjects like math and science? Why not set aside money for teaching incentives at hard-to-staff schools? Unfortunately, for the time being at least, these ideas are relegated to an “if only” file, awaiting another legislative session.
In other budget news: teacher salary hikes may have garnered the biggest media buzz, but 3 other programs made out like bandits as well. Four years ago, the General Assembly mandated a discretionary reduction of $44.3 million from the education budget. The restoration of these funds has been the top priority of the North Carolina School Boards Association (PDF) and the North Carolina Principals and Assistant Principals Association. Their efforts have finally paid off, with a 2006-07 state budget that replaces this discretionary reduction.
Next, an added $41.9 million will fully fund the current $175.6 million Low Wealth Schools Supplementary Fund, targeting systems whose ability to generate local revenue per student is below state average. Eligibility is determined by county-adjusted property tax base, number of square miles in the county, and per capita income. Approximately 80 of the state’s 115 systems will benefit.
Finally, an additional $27 million will more than double the Disadvantaged Student Supplemental Fund’s previous allotment of $22.5 million, expanding the program statewide from 16 pilot systems.
In the end, though, even with $139,944,021 in new money in one short year, North Carolina’s education budget still falls short of the $6.9 billion requested by the State Board of Education. So education bureaucrats won’t just sit back contentedly and count their money. After all, the next round of budget requests is just a year away.