Good news, it seems, for North Carolina teachers.  From Dan Way’s article at Carolina Journal Online, which contains essentially the same information as on Page 7 of the current Carolina Journal hardcopy issue:

Early career teachers will get pay raises starting in the fiscal year beginning July 1, and teachers with up to seven years of service will collect double-digit percentage increases, Governor Pat McCrory announced Monday.  The package is expected to cost less than $200 million and will not require a tax increase.

In a show of unity with election-year overtones, the governor, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, House Speaker Thom Tillis, and Senate leader Phil Berger, all Republicans, said GOP economic policies that helped to spur increased revenue, and prudent fiscal management, made possible the raise in base pay from $30,800 to $35,000 for more than 42,000 teachers.

“At $35,000, North Carolina will at least be competitive nationally, and a leader in the Southeast for pay, and ahead of Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina in base pay,” McCrory said.

and

The new pay hike will come in two phases — $2,200 the first year and $2,000 the second — a 14 percent hike, for teachers with up to five years’ experience.  Teachers with between six and nine years, who qualify for higher pay than less-experienced teachers under the current salary structure, will reach the $35,000 base with raises ranging from $550 to $3,780, or 2 percent to 12 percent.

McCrory also announced “substantial raises” effective January 1st targeting more than 3,000 nurses, highway patrol officers and others “whose base pay was too low for too long,” and uncompetitive with private sector pay.

McCrory said the state will roll back its cutoff of 10 percent supplemental pay for teachers who attain master’s degrees.  That will allow teachers who took any classes as of last July 1 to collect the extra pay upon completion of their master’s degrees.

Berger said bills will be introduced in the short session on the pay raise and master’s supplements.

For the full article, click HERE.