The left-wing media establishment is busy focusing on teacher pay, but they should spend some time talking about teacher benefits.
Salaries were a $5.9 billion state expenditure last year. The latest expenditure reports published by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction shows that $2.2 billion (25.6 percent of all state education expenditures) were used for employee benefits. That includes $986 million for retirement, $433 million for Social Security contributions, and $734 million for health insurance.
| Employer’s Social Security – Regular | $432,684,016 | 4.98% |
| Employer’s Retirement – Regular | 985,668,538 | 11.35% |
| Other Retirement Cost | 24,105 | 0.00% |
| Employer’s Hospitalization Insurance | 734,208,909 | 8.46% |
| Employer’s Workers’ Comp Insurance | 45,327 | 0.00% |
| Employer’s Unemployment Insurance | 4,388 | 0.00% |
| Employer’s Dental Ins Cost | – | 0.00% |
| Employer’s Life Insurance Cost | – | 0.00% |
| Other Insurance Cost | 2,235 | 0.00% |
| Longevity Pay | 22,923,103 | 0.26% |
| Bonus Leave Pay | 1,741,903 | 0.02% |
| Short Term Disability Pay | 1,167,351 | 0.01% |
| Annual Leave Pay | 39,827,064 | 0.46% |
| Short Term Disability Pay – First Six Months | 4,782,600 | 0.06% |
| Subtotal: | $2,223,079,539 | 25.60% |
