So you want the skinny on the state budget and K-12 education?
Here’s a quick take:.
The budget proposes. $11.2 billion for K-12 public education, an increase of
$352 million over last year and the twelfth consecutive budget increase since 2011.
Some areas of interest:
Teacher Pay
- Provides teachers an average pay raise of 4.2 percent, an increase over the previously approved 2.5 percent for the second year of the biennium.
- Increases pay for starting teachers to $37,000.
- Raises teacher supplements from $4,250 to $5,000.
- Provides noncertified staff with either a 4 percent raise or increases pay to $15 per hour, whichever is greater.
- Provides $15 million for schools to use for grants for school resource officers.
- Funds $32 million in grants to support students in crisis, provide school safety training and purchase safety equipment for schools.
- Appropriates $26 million to help schools cover the salaries needed to keep police officers in high schools.
- Provides an additional $56 million to Opportunity Scholarship Fund (OSP) Reserve. With the increase, the new net appropriation for OSP for 2022-23 is $150.8 million.
- Appropriates an additional $16 million in funding for Personal Education Student accounts for Children with Disabilities Program, The new net appropriation for the program is $47.9 million.
- Expands eligibility for Opportunity Scholarship students from 175 percent to 200 percent of the amount required for students to qualify for federal free and reduced lunch program. The changes expand eligibility to about $100,000 for a family of four.
- Adds $16.3 million to Personal Education Saving Account Programs and brings total net appropriation to $47.9 million.
- Transfers $431 million from NC Education Lottery over the biennium and moves it to the Needs-Based Public Schools Capital Fund.
- Sets aside $100 million for school construction for 2022-23.
Charter Schools
- Extends the pilot program for two public virtual charter schools from eight to ten years, with expiration dates in 2024-25.
