The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching was one of the winners in the most recent state budget. The publicly-funded professional development program for teachers had been slated for closure in both the Senate and Governor鈥檚 preliminary budgets in recent years.
The final version of this year鈥檚 budget allocates $3.1 million dollars a year in recurring funding for the NCCAT.
鈥淚 think it adds some stability for our teachers across the state to know that the legislature has put us in a recurring situation,鈥� said Richard Thompson, NCCAT鈥檚 interim executive director. 鈥淲e know budgets are tight but we work really hard to make sure the state gets more than a dollar鈥檚 worth for every dollar they spend on this.鈥�
Research shows that teachers who attend one of NCCAT鈥檚 centers in Ocracoke and Cullowhee tend to stay in the profession longer. About 70,000 teachers have gone through its professional development programs.
