Department of Public Instruction

Overall, North Carolina teacher pay has improved despite periods of no or moderate pay increases. North Carolina ranks 34th nationally and 2nd in the Southeast in teacher pay. The increase in teacher benefits — specifically the rising cost of retirement benefits — is the biggest reason for the escalating costs of teacher compensation.

For 2020-21, North Carolina’s average teacher salary is $54,392, which is ranked 34th in the nation according to the National Education Association. The statewide average salary increased by around 21 percent between 2014 and 2021. The NC Association of Educators insists that the calculation of the average is flawed.

The new Comprehensive Remedial Plan to comply with the Leandro ruling lacks critical details for how its measures would provide all public school children a sound basic education. Democrats and activists are pressuring the Republican-led General Assembly to adopt these expensive proposals — or the judge to force them despite the constitutional separation of powers.

Senate Democrats pledged unwavering allegiance to the North Carolina Democratic Party, the N.C. Association of Educators, and the advocacy groups that ignore the overwhelming support for in-person instruction and the mounting academic and social/emotional needs of public school students.

North Carolina needs social studies standards focused on civic literacy and dedicated to providing students a balanced perspective of American history. A balanced view does not attempt to conceal the nation’s mistakes. Instead, it gives equal weight to failures and successes. It identifies errors and facts. It affirms our ideals, even as we work to create a society that honors them.

Friedman’s ideas have helped to fuel an education revolution in North Carolina and across the country. Choice empowers parents to make educational decisions, challenges monopolies, and calls out bureaucracies. Choice expands personal freedom but also highlights that accountability comes in different forms. In so doing, choice has helped to shift the public discussion of education from a focus on how much money is spent to how well money is spent.

Public school advocacy organizations and teacher unions claim that educator attrition data indicate the health of the teaching profession. If that is the case, then they should be pleased that the rate continues to drop.

This week, the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released the fourth draft of North Carolina social studies standards. I reviewed the available documents, but I took a particular…

What accounted for the extraordinary net decrease in public school students? A cursory review of the data offers few patterns or common characteristics of note.

Every February, the Information Analysis section of the Division of School Business at the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI) publishes “Highlights of the North Carolina Public School Budget.” …