NC lawmakers propose 8% teacher pay raise, some educators say it falls short

North Carolina lawmakers negotiating the state budget have agreed on an 8% average pay raise for teachers next school year, a move Republican leaders say is meant to make the state more competitive with others across the South.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger defended the proposed increases.

“It's an area that we are particularly out of line with our neighbors as far as starting pay,” Berger said.

The proposed increases come as state lawmakers reached a deal on Tuesday on the broad strokes of a comprehensive state budget, ending a yearlong standoff over state spending priorities, according to legislative leaders. 

If approved, new teachers with no prior experience in the 2026-2027 school year would earn about $4,800 per month, up from roughly $4,100 this past school year. Under the proposal, teachers with 15 years of experience would make more than $5,600 a month, while educators with at least 25 years in the classroom would earn about $5,900 a month.

Education advocates, however, argue the raises still fall short of what is needed to keep teachers from leaving for other professions or moving to nearby states with higher salaries.

Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said the proposal does not go far enough.

“This is not a competitive raise that will allow us to retain and recruit educators to North Carolina. So we will continue to lose them to other southern states, including our neighbors in Virginia and South Carolina,” Walker Kelly said.

Some Republican lawmakers have argued the proposed raises would place North Carolina teachers among the highest paid educators in the South. But education experts caution those comparisons can be difficult to verify because salary structures vary widely from state to state.

WRAL education reporter Emily Walkenhorst said several neighboring states have already approved new budgets and teacher pay plans that may not yet be reflected in regional comparisons.

“States have passed budgets for this current school year and this next fiscal year that are not included in that report. So it's really kind of challenging to compare North Carolina to other states especially because a lot of other states don't really have an established state level base pay,” Walkenhorst said.

Teacher raises are just a small part of the proposed state budget. Lawmakers are still hashing out other details and it could still be weeks before anything is set in stone.