Gov. Cooper’s NC budget proposal includes raises for teachers, state employees
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s proposed state budget would give teachers 10% raises over two years, increase education funding and put a bond on voters’ ballots this fall.
Cooper announced his proposal at a news conference Wednesday. Now the Democratic governor will try to convince the Republican-controlled legislature to go along with some of his priorities.
Here’s what Cooper wants for education:
▪ $485 million in teacher and administrator pay, with an average pay raise of 10% over two years, as well as restoring master’s degree pay.
▪ 7.5% raises for school districts’ central office staff and noncertified public school employees over two years.
▪ $15 an hour minimum wage for noncertified, public school employees including teaching assistants, cafeteria workers and bus drivers.
▪ $2,000 bonuses for teachers, principals, noncertified public school employees, university employees and community college employees this fiscal year and another $1,000 bonus next year.
▪ $52 million for educator recruitment, retention and training.
▪ $80 million for more school nurses, counselors, psychologists and social workers.
Ballot bond proposal
Cooper also proposed putting a $4.7 billion general obligation bond on the ballot this November that would fund $2.5 billion for public schools, $783 million for the UNC System, $500 million for the community college system, $430 million for health and safety projects across state government and $460 million for parks, zoos, museums and state historic sites.
Other state employee raises
Cooper’s budget proposal also includes a 7.5% raise over two years for UNC and state-funded local community college employees. All other employees would see a 5% raise over two years. The proposal also calls for a $1,000 bonus each of the next two years for all state-funded employees. Another $58.3 million is proposed for salary adjustments.
Retired state employees would get cost-of-living adjustment raises: a recurring 2% and an additional 2% raise each of the next two years.
Building security
Cooper’s proposal would spend $10.2 million to improve security in and around government buildings. Portable metal fencing was only just removed from the state Capitol grounds this month, and remains in place around the Executive Mansion downtown and the state archives building. Protesters tore down Confederate statues, and others were removed, during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. There have also been protests outside the governor’s mansion and the Legislative Building.
The budget proposal also allocates $393 million for state capital projects, including $100 million for energy efficiency projects.
Budget process
The state puts out a budget every two years — making minor adjustments in the year in between. The House and Senate take turns being the first to propose a budget. This year the Senate starts the process. But first, the governor offers his or her proposed budget.
While the governor’s budget has a wide range of funding goals, there are usually just a few issues that compromise may hinge on, often the amount of raises.
The amount of teacher raises and expanding Medicaid — along with corporate tax cuts — were at the center of the 2019 state budget battle. The end of the fiscal year came and went as Cooper and the Republican-controlled legislature dragged out negotiations for months. In the end, one chamber overrode his veto and the other didn’t. Some state employees got raises but teachers did not. And the state has not expanded Medicaid.
North Carolina’s government doesn’t shut down the way the federal government does. Instead, the previous budget just rolls over, which is what happened in 2019. The legislature also passed a series of “mini” budget bills that Cooper signed into law.
In 2020, teachers did receive step increases and bonuses, but no across-the-board raises.
Cooper and Republican leaders could not reach a compromise on the amount of the raises. The final pitch from Republicans was raises of about 3.8%, or more if Senate Democrats would help override Cooper’s budget veto; they did not. The teacher raises bill was vetoed by Cooper in January 2020, who called them “paltry.” But just a few months later, the coronavirus pandemic hit, schools closed, and many teachers and students transitioned to nearly a year of online learning.
Cooper told reporters the amount of educator raises proposed in the budget reflects that they did not get them during the last budget cycle.
“This is a strong pay package and acknowledges our tax revenue is up, that our economy is bright as we come out of this pandemic ... we have to invest in our people,” he said about the overall raises and bonuses pitch.
Medicaid expansion
The issue of Medicaid expansion, however, is a sticking point that might not have much room for compromise. Senate Republican leadership has not supported it, citing potential long-range costs to the state. In the House, there was some Republican support for expansion that came with a work requirement and payments, but that faltered. Health care funding could still come up as a key issue this session not part of the overall budget negotiations.
Cooper said he is hopeful that given the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan and other factors there could be a different result this time.
“Medicaid expansion can be discussed and debated at any point during the session,” he said Wednesday.
“I know we’ve talked about a number of other health care issues. I could be in that, it could be as part of the budget, it can be discussed anywhere, so we’re certainly not confining the discussion of Medicaid expansion in the budget.”
House Speaker Tim Moore told The News & Observer on Wednesday that Medicaid expansion was the issue that “got everything tied up last time.”
“I don’t see any more appetite in this session to pass Medicaid expansion, than I did last time,” he said.
“Some [House] members were looking at it because of work requirements and courts struck that down so that’s unfortunate,” Moore said.
Republican, NCAE and SEANC reaction
The North Carolina Association of Educators called the proposal a “thoughtful approach” in a statement by NCAE President Tamika Walker Kelly. She said NCAE shares many of Cooper’s funding priorities, including the $15 an hour pay along with master’s degree pay and funding increases “to support the social and emotional needs of our students by ensuring counselors and nurses are present in every school.”
Walker Kelly called the proposed raises “affordable, strategic, and well-deserved. We hope the General Assembly will show the same appreciation. We look forward to working with the House and Senate in their budget negotiations to ensure public education receives the necessary investments to serve our students and our communities.”
But Sen. Brent Jackson, a Sampson County Republican and lead Senate budget writer, said in a statement that leaders have “concerns about the very high spending growth and billions in borrowing in Gov. Cooper’s proposed budget. We don’t want to return to an era of rollercoaster-style budgets with huge spikes in the boom years followed by huge cuts in the lean years.”
Jackson credited the past decade of Republican-led General Assembly budgets.
“Thanks to a decade of predictable, responsible budgeting, North Carolina weathered the COVID-19 pandemic and recession without cutting state services or freezing teacher pay,” he said.
Moore said Wednesday that Republican leaders have some shared priorities when it comes to investment in education and infrastructure with Cooper, but that the governor’s proposal would spend “way too much money.”
“We need to be responsible with what we spend. North Carolina is in a good position to deal with COVID and all these other economic conditions because we have budgeted wisely and been prudent in our spending,” Moore said.
As far as a repeat of the 2019 budget battle, Moore said: “An impasse is good for no one.” He said that he, Senate leader Phil Berger and Cooper have been having more conversations this time.
The State Employees Association of North Carolina welcomed Cooper’s proposal in general and called the $15 minimum wage for noncertified school personnel “life changing,” but objected to the pay raise discrepancy.
“SEANC is thrilled that Governor Cooper is suggesting a truly meaningful investment in pay raises and retiree cost-of-living adjustments,” Executive Director Ardis Watkins said in a statement.
“However, an inequitable proposal offered to address inequity is what Governor Cooper was upset with two years ago when the General Assembly recognized that state employees have received far fewer salary increases in the last few decades than teachers,” Watkins said.
“Our members who have been on the front lines during the pandemic are understandably upset by being valued less than others. It’s time to end that madness and recognize all public employees for the valuable work they perform,” she said.
Federal money
More money is coming to North Carolina under the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden. The governor’s office is awaiting further federal guidance for how to spend an anticipated $5.3 billion in state fiscal recovery funds and $277 million in coronavirus capital project funds. Some items that could be funded under the plan include broadband internet expansion and investments in water, sewer, and housing infrastructure.
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This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Gov. Cooper’s NC budget proposal includes raises for teachers, state employees."