North Carolina still ranks toward the bottom nationally in teacher pay, according to a new report from the National Education Association.
The report ranks the state 43rd in average teacher pay and 38th in starting teacher pay. These rankings are about the same as last year. Last year, the state ranked 43rd in average teacher pay and 39th in beginning teacher pay.
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This is all based on data from the 2024-25 school year. Teachers haven't received raises for the current school year, because the North Carolina legislature has yet to pass a new budget.
Without a raise, North Carolina teacher pay is projected to fall to 46th this year, based on estimates.
Data shows average teacher pay was about $60,000 during the 2024-25 school year, up from about $58,000 the year before. Average starting pay was about $45,000, up from $42,500 the year before. Projections for this year show average teacher salaries dropping to just under $60,000. Projections don't include an estimate for starting pay.
This school year, most teachers have gotten a step increase in pay for serving another year. Step increases are highly variable, and most teachers with 15 or more years of experience don't receive any step increases.
For most teachers, step increases are several hundred additional dollars. Teachers who reach 25 years of experience receive a one-step increase of just more than $2,000, but nothing additional.
State lawmakers have disagreed over how much to raise teacher pay, among other things, this year. They haven't approved of a budget or teacher pay raises for this current school year.
North Carolina fell in rankings on per-student spending, from 38th to 39th, as the NEA estimated the state -- via all funding sources -- spent less per student in the 2024-25 school year than the year before. The group estimated the state spent $13,640 per student last school year, down from $13,796. Projections for the current year show spending at about the same level -- $13,680 -- based on fall enrollment.
The National Education Association is a national teachers' union that issues this report each year, along with several other school finance statistics. The North Carolina Association of Educators, an affiliate of NEA, held a press conference on the report Monday morning, calling for 25% increases to staff pay.
NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly noted the state ranks well below many other southeastern states in teacher pay and school spending and would need to increase spending by thousands per student to catch up with Louisiana, for example.
Stephanie Wallace, a Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools teacher, said her pay in recent years had not kept up with inflation and that higher health insurance payments for her and her son's medical care had forced her into picking up a third job waitressing at Chili's. She already had a second job of working as a part-time teacher for North Carolina Virtual Public Schools.
"My family could not make the ends meet without me working multiple jobs in addition to being in the classroom," said, Wallace, who has been teaching since 2000.
North Carolina relies on state spending for public schools more than many other states, where school districts are often reliant on local property taxes for the vast majority of school funding. In most other states, school districts are more numerous and more likely to be geographically defined to individuals cities and suburbs that can have vastly different abilities to raise money for schools.
In North Carolina, by law, the state is charged with funding education, and counties are charged with funding facilities, though each fund both. State education spending topped $11.1 billion during the 2024-25 school year, and county education spending neared $4.7 billion.