Gov. Roy Cooper took notice of teacher pay discrepancy in his fiscal years 2021-23 budget recommendations.
Cooper proposes the state appropriate $268.9 million in fiscal year 2022 and $439.3 million in fiscal year 2023 in teacher pay “to decrease pay disparity between educators and similarly credentialed and experienced professionals in other fields,” his recommendation states.
“This budget also works to make good on our state’s Constitutional duty to make sure every child has access to a sound basic education,” Cooper said in a press release. “We know how to do that: Attract and keep good teachers with competitive pay and recruit young people to make teaching a career.”
CHARLOTTE – Duke Energy has filed an additional $56 million proposal of Phase II programs to continue the electrification of transportation in North Carolina, which would lead to more than 1,000 new charging ports or stations for electric vehicle charging in the state.
This proposal comes six months after the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) approved a $25 million Phase I electric transportation project and the NCUC instructed Duke Energy to organize a collaborative stakeholder process, then file paperwork with the Commission on any stakeholder-developed pilot programs.
“Throughout the electric transportation industry, increasing the number of public charging stations and overcoming consumer anxiety about battery range remain obstacles in increasing and sustaining EV adoption,” reads the proposal filed in May 2021. “Given the possible benefits of increased EV adoption to all utility customers, utilities have been and are a natural choice to provide infrastructure
Included in Buncombe County Schools’ 2021-22 budget request was $78,154 for a 340% wage increase for board members. BCS Superintendent Tony Baldwin told the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during the May 10 budget meeting the raise will be the board’s first since the late 1980s.
Baldwin did not say why board members’ stipends have not gone up in three decades. School board chair Ann Franklin said the board’s pay hadn’t even been evaluated since the 80s.
“Why now? Well I’m not a board member, but I’m a superintendent that is working through COVID. Needless to say, stresses have come,” Baldwin said. “Certainly, I think, (the raise) would highlight the importance and responsibility that comes to those board members.”
WUNC
Student Jennifer Galvez Gonzalez elbow bumps fifth grade teacher Kelly Shearon at Lakewood Elementary, as she enters the school to take her science end-of-grade exam, May 19, 2021.
On a recent Monday morning in teacher Kelly Shearon s fifth grade class at Lakewood Elementary in Durham, the conversation turned to the upcoming end-of-grade exams ― better known to North Carolina kids as the EOG s.
Shearon was ready with a pep talk. Y all, this year has been pretty wild. Am I right? Shearon started off.
She listed all the challenges her students have overcome this year: virtual classes, bad internet connections, sick family members, and stepping up to take care of younger siblings plus losing time together in class.