In a Facebook post, Constance Lav Johnson, candidate for N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction, claims that “Walmart pays more and offers better benefits for cashiers.”
One person responded,
I agree that teachers deserve to be respected and should make more money, but blatant lies won’t help our cause. The average Wal-Mart cashier makes $10.50 an hour…working 40 hours a week (12 months) is approximately $22,000 a year. In comparison, a first year teacher makes $13,000 more, working 2 months less. Throw local county supplements in and a first year teacher probably makes more like $36,500 or so. Our starting salaries are competitive with other states, we need to increase veteran teacher salaries up to 65k a year for a 30 year teacher (w/o masters pay).
Of course, this does not account for the $17,500+ in benefits that North Carolina teachers receive.
