Rep. Paul Stam: Stepping up for teachers
Regarding the Dec. 26 letter “No education state”: A central premise of the letter writer’s argument is that the 2015 General Assembly “couldn’t manage a 2 percent increase for our teachers.” But this central premise is factually untrue.
The average increase in salary for teachers in the 2015-16 budget is 4 percent. This is on top of a 6.92 percent increase in average state teacher salary in the prior year. This combined 10.92 percent increase for teachers over two years is much higher than salary increases for other state government workers or for workers in the private sector.
Your correspondent is apparently unfamiliar with the “step increases” that were funded in each year’s budget.
State Rep. Paul Stam
Apex
The writer, a Republican, represents N.C. District 37.
This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Rep. Paul Stam: Stepping up for teachers."