Susan O’Brien: Misleading teacher pay boast

Who is this average teacher? It’s a question I ask myself every time I see the TV ads from Gov. Pat McCrory. These ads tout the big pay raises the legislature gave teachers, upping the average salary to $50,150.

So I ask again, who is this average teacher? It’s certainly not a teacher with 12 years of experience and a master’s degree. Last year that teacher got a raise, and there is a smaller raise scheduled for this year. Then that 12-year veteran teacher won’t get a raise for about five years. So 17 years into teaching with a master’s degree, this teacher still won’t be making $50,150. Who is this average teacher?

The legislature has voted to increase new teacher salaries. At that time my children’s veteran teachers had 10 years experience and master’s degrees. One of these teachers taught kindergarten and had a student teacher in the spring. The student teacher was fabulous and ended up getting a job at the school of the other teacher. The first year teacher, with no experience, made more money than these two veteran teachers.

I wish McCrory and Republicans would stop misleading the public on teacher pay.

This story was originally published August 20, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Susan O’Brien: Misleading teacher pay boast."