Wake County school board made a budget, Oct. 6, to spend $16 million in raises for teachers, $1.8 million of which will go towards raises for teachers who have extra duties and $6 million put towards raises for positions such as bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and teacher assistants. The Wake County Board of Commissioners increased school funding by $44.6 million to increase pay for 1800 school employees.

Pat McCrory signed a bill that states only less experienced teachers will get the pay raise, as of right now.  

Angelica Luzzi, freshman, believed it was not fair for only new teachers to get the pay raise.

“The pay raise should be based on experience,” Luzzi said.

Teachers who have been working for five years or less will receive as much as $3,500 in raises. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg School (CMS), supplement is for teachers who work in Mecklenburg county, Charlotte. Additionally, teachers with a CMS supplement will receive $40,247-$44,267.  

Conner Bayer, Athens Drive history teacher has been teaching for less than one year. He believes that it is fair that only teachers of less than five years get the pay raise.

“Today things are expensive, the value of a dollar has gone down. Most new teachers are fresh out of college and need to pay for student loans and rent,” Bayer said.

Teachers that have taught over five years will not receive a pay raise until the General Assembly authorizes it. However, a salary schedule presented Oct. 6 ensures pay raises for 10,000 Wake County teachers. This raise could be as much as $3,202, depending on how long they have been teaching.   

Ryan Westbrook, who has worked at Athens Drive for 12 years, was indifferent about whether or not it is or is not right for only new teachers to get the pay raise.

“It is fair because they want to get the initial fee up which is important to get new teachers into teaching. Yet, eventually they will need to also raise everyone pay to keep people from leaving,”  Westbrook said.

The goal in raising teacher pay is to get around the United States average. The United States teacher pay average for new teachers is $36,141. Currently, North Carolina pays their new teachers approximately $33,000, the plan is to achieve the nation’s average by 2020.  

Another reason North Carolina is trying to give their teachers a higher pay is to better motivate teachers and to increase their performance at work.

“Teachers would feel better about their job. It would boost their teaching potential and they would try harder,” Luzzi said.

Bayer also believed that a pay increase would help teachers.  “Teachers get criticized for only working from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and five days a week. Yet, teachers spend time out of school planning ahead, grading and coaching extracurricular. Being paid more would help teachers excel,” said Bayer