The North Carolina State Board of Education on Thursday voted to approve a 2025 legislative agenda that calls for increased teacher salaries, repairs for aging school facilities, and expanded student support services across the state.
The proposal, presented to the board on Wednesday by Department of Public Instruction staff, is also seeking $100 million to help schools in western North Carolina recover from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. “We’re already beginning to hear from districts that the $50 million appropriated last fall is not going to be sufficient to meet the repair needs,” Geoff Coltrane, Senior Director of Government Affairs at DPI, said.
Coltrane said this list of priorities is based on the board’s brainstorming session last month and priorities identified by DPI staff and leadership. A full plan will be developed over the next six months to guide legislative efforts, he added.
The priorities also include raising teacher salaries to the highest in the Southeast, restoring master’s pay for all educators (not just classroom teachers), reforming the principal pay plan, and raising principal pay.
North Carolina ranked 5th in Southeast for average teacher pay in the 2022-23 school year, behind Georgia by $8,000, according to data from National Education Association. The state also ranked 10th in starting salary, just above Kentucky and Arkansas in the Southeast.
The request also includes $65 million for school health personnel, a 20% increase that would allow districts to hire 660 additional nurses, social workers, psychologists and counselors.
The board is also seeking nearly $230 million to implement a weighted student funding formula for exceptional children, which would tier funding based on students’ needs. Currently, the state funds exceptional children at a flat dollar amount, regardless of whether their needs require services for one day per week or 24/7 care.
Other requests include funding to improve the student transportation information management system, support for three new cooperative innovative high schools, and $377 million to provide free school breakfast and lunch for all students.
On the policy front, the proposal seeks changes like allowing more school calendar flexibility, eliminating the Praxis Core exam requirement for teacher prep programs, and DPI flexibility for placement of early literacy specialists.
All members of the board except North Carolina Treasurer Brad Briner voted for the proposal. The agenda figures to face an uphill battle in the Republican controlled General Assembly, which has regularly rejected past requests for sizable funding boosts in recent years.
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