North Carolina CEOs ask for teacher raises
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Some of the state's most prominent CEOs — including SAS' James Goodnight and Honeywell's Darius Adamczyk — are calling for the state to raise teacher wages as part of an effort to increase reading proficiency.
Driving the news: North Carolina members of the Business Roundtable requested several policy changes Tuesday morning at Southeast Raleigh Elementary in response to declining reading scores since the pandemic.
- Requested changes include meaningful raises for teachers to help fill the more than 5,500 teacher vacancies at public schools in the state, the continued expansion of the number of students enrolled in Pre-K school, and automatic, inflation-based adjustments to wages going forward.
Why it matters: More workers will need post-secondary education in the coming years, the group said Tuesday, but not enough North Carolinians are seeking it out — many because they struggle to read.
- "North Carolina policymakers and business leaders have spent a lot of time and money bringing new business to North Carolina and encouraging existing businesses to expand," Goodnight said at an event at Southeast Raleigh Elementary School.
- "These companies have done so, in part, based on a belief that the state can supply them with the talent they need now and in the future. This requires our third graders, all of them, to read proficiently."
What's happening: The group said North Carolina is falling behind as states like Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas move to raise salaries, leading to a declining number of education majors and an exodus from the industry.
- Pre-K teachers, the group noted, can also often find higher paying jobs that don't require degrees.
By the numbers: Just 32% of North Carolina fourth graders were proficient in reading, according to a 2022 report cited by the Business Roundtable. That was down from 36% before the pandemic.
- Students that are proficient at reading by fourth grade are three times more likely to get post-secondary education, Adamczyk said.
What they're saying: "I look at this problem as a business person," said Dale Jenkins, the retired CEO of the insurance company Curi. "In an extremely tight labor market … companies all across the country are increasing employee pay and instituting changes to make working for their companies as attractive as possible. We need to do the same thing for teachers."
- Goodnight said he would like to see 10% wage increases for teachers, and would prefer more money go toward teachers than to lower corporate tax rates.
Context: Teachers likely will receive raises in the next state budget.
- The House budget proposal is floating an average of around 10% raises for public school teachers over the next two years, while Gov. Roy Cooper's budget proposal suggested an average of 18% raises.