CONCORD, N.C. — Gov. Roy Cooper visited Concord Thursday to promote the work that public schools across North Carolina do every day to promote academic and social growth for students as part of his "Year of Public Schools" campaign.
Cooper declared 2024 as the year of public schools during a visit to Nash County earlier this week. Cooper's tour to schools across the state will see him joined by education leaders, teachers, parents, and business leaders as they emphasize the importance of funding North Carolina's schools.
"North Carolina's future depends on making sure every child has the chance to receive a high-quality education in our outstanding public schools," Cooper said. "The legislature must fully fund public education in North Carolina, including meaningful investments in early childhood education and paying our teachers like the professionals they are."
Public school funding has been a priority for Cooper, who declared a "state of emergency" for public education last year. The governor has spent significant time visiting schools over the last year in an effort to make the public aware of great things happening and schools to and bring attention to the need for better funding, especially when it comes to paying teachers.
The beginning teacher of the year, Natalia Mejia, also spoke at the event and says she sees the need for more funding firsthand.
“I think that would be a great way to get more teachers in the classroom, we can invest in more resources for our students, we can work on our transportation, getting our students lunches. We provide lunches for our students so that’s a really big one. If we could get that for free for all of our students – because it’s no longer free – that would be very powerful," Mejia explained.
She also continued to explain that with the rise of ESL students in the state, the need for staff that can assist has grown as well. Mejia says, that without proper funding and pay, that need isn't being met.
North Carolina ranks near the bottom in K-12 funding, according to Cooper's office, claiming the state spends nearly $5,000 less per student than the national average. It's no better when it comes to beginning teacher pay, with North Carolina coming in 46th nationally and 11th out of 12 states in the Southeast. Cooper's proposed pay raise would have set the minimum starting teacher salary at $46,000 plus supplements. It would've brought North Carolina to the top in the Southeast and No. 16 nationally.
"One of the things we could do to improve is pay our educators more substantially," Cooper said during a recent visit to Charlotte. "It's unfortunate. I proposed an 18% pay raise for our educators over the next two years. The General Assembly did 7%. That's not enough, we need to make sure that we have the best."
Note: A previous version of this story stated that North Carolina is 46th in teacher pay, while the governor's office states that North Carolina is 46th in beginning teacher pay. The error has been corrected.
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