NC Gov. Stein makes new budget pitch on General Assembly opening day. What’s in it
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- The budget proposal would keep individual and corporate tax rates at 3.99% and 2.25%.
- Stein wants 15% raises for law enforcement, nurses, correctional officers, health techs.
- Gov. Stein proposes $319 million to fully fund Medicaid as in his March proposal.
North Carolina’s legislature is back, and the governor is making a new budget pitch.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein wants 15% raises for law enforcement and nurses, and starting teacher pay to be the highest in the Southeast.
Stein announced his third, and most comprehensive, budget proposal on Tuesday about an hour before the 170 state lawmakers were to take their seats for the opening day of the General Assembly’s short session. The legislature did not send Stein a budget bill in 2025, so all eyes are on the long-overdue spending plan.
Lawmakers had Stein’s proposal on their desks Tuesday morning.
“If we’re going to continue to build on our long-term economic success, we must start by investing in our public schools. Our children truly are our future, so investing in them must be our greatest priority,” Stein told reporters during a news conference at the Albemarle Building in downtown Raleigh.
This latest proposal comes after Stein’s proposals this spring for funding Helene recovery and what he called the state’s “critical needs.”.
Here’s what he’s asking for:
Raises and bonuses for state employees, retirees
- 5% raises, on top of the 10% he pitched in March, for a total 15% raise for law enforcement officers, nurses, correctional officers and health technicians. That breaks down to a 10% raise this current fiscal year, with another 5% in the 2026-2027 fiscal year that begins in July.
- Bonuses for law enforcement who have completed Basic Law Enforcement Training.
- For other state employees, a 2.5% raise now and another 2.5% raise for the fiscal year that begins in July.
- A $1,000 bonus for all state employees, and another $500 bonus for employees with salaries below $75,000.
- For retirees, a 2.5% one-time cost of living adjustment this year and another one next year.
Increasing starting teacher pay, restoring master’s degree pay
- Raise starting teacher pay to the highest in the Southeast.
- Restore extra pay for teachers who have master’s degrees.
- A $1,000 bonus for teachers and local education employees.
- An additional $500 bonus for teachers and education employees who make less than $75,000 a year.
Both the starting-teacher pay raise and master’s degree pay were included in the 2025 House budget proposal, which was written by Republicans and supported by a majority of House Democrats.
In his March “critical needs” budget proposal, Stein proposed increasing starting teacher pay by 13% to at least $49,518, which includes both state and local supplements, as well as a 5.8% average raise for experienced teachers and other school personnel.
On Tuesday, Stein criticized Republican-backed spending on private school vouchers, which are called Opportunity Scholarships, and which are funded with taxpayer money.
“If we’re serious about the success of North Carolina’s 1.5 million public school students, we should not be taking money away from them to pay for wealthy parents to send their kids to unaccountable private schools,” he said. “Over the next decade, if left unchecked, we’re going to (take) $7.5 billion away from our public schools and spend them on private schools with little to no accountability.”
He said he doesn’t want to eliminate the program, but limit it.
Stein is also proposing spending $115 million from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund for renovations and repairs for public school buildings.
Freeze income tax rates
Stein wants to keep the individual income tax rate at 3.99% and the corporate income tax rate at 2%. Both of those tax rates dropped to their current levels in January and are on track to drop again in 2027.
Stein advocated for a tax freeze last year, and the rate of tax reductions is the core of the current state budget battle between the House and Senate.
The governor also questioned who benefits when corporate income taxes are cut, and said the state could use $2 billion in revenue on public schools.
Stein also wants a child care tax break and to restore North Carolina’s back-to-school sales tax holiday in August.
Medicaid, DMV funding
The governor wants to fully fund Medicaid with $319 million, as he called for in his March $1.4 billion “critical needs” budget proposal, when the legislature was out of session.
Stein’s proposal also calls for increasing services and hours at the Division of Motor Vehicles and creating a Transition Services Division at the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs for members of the military who are becoming civilians.
This story was originally published April 21, 2026 at 10:38 AM.
