Gov. Josh Stein鈥檚 newly released budget recommendations include a plan to increase starting teacher pay above $50,000, with the goal of making it the highest in the Southeast.
Stein noted in his State of the State address that Republicans in the N.C. House have already filed a similar teacher pay bill. is sponsored by Rep. Erin Par茅, R-Wake, who was recently appointed to a powerful role as a co-chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
She spoke about the bill in an interview on this week鈥檚 episode of the 瓜神app Politics Podcast.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
What's the thought process behind introducing this teacher pay plan now, ahead of the budget process?
"I think it's something that needs to happen, and I think there's a lot of support for it in the General Assembly from both sides of the aisle.
"A lot of people in the education community, particularly our school boards and our districts, are asking for this. And I think that in my current role as a chair of Appropriations (Committee), it was appropriate for me to file this bill, and I look forward to fighting for it in those negotiations.
"I think that it is important that we are the top in the Southeast, as far as teacher pay goes. It is very important for us to be creating an environment in North Carolina where we can attract the best and the brightest educators coming out of school and retain those educators."
The revenue landscape this year looks like it could be a little bit more tight. Do you feel like there's going to be the resources to do this kind of teacher pay increase, or is this something that may get scaled back?
"It is about priorities ... but I think that this is a main priority, as well as pay for our state employees. While we are being very prudent when it comes to budgeting and fiscal strategy and managing our budget responsibly, we also need to meet the needs of North Carolina and prioritize the things that matter."
One of the things Gov. Stein and other Democrats are calling for is freezing income tax cuts for the corporate and individual level to free up more funding for things like teacher pay. Is that something House budget writers are likely to have to look at?
"I think that everything is on the table, and I think 鈥� at least from the House side, I'm not privy to what the Senate is doing, obviously 鈥� but I think that's part of the discussion.
"We want to be smart about our budgeting. We want to make sure that we have enough runway that we can meet the needs of western North Carolina, for future hurricanes, for education, for salaries. However, I think that we all understand that tax cuts are positive ... so it truly is a balance, and I know I am very cognizant of that."
Another would require more transparency around school district jobs based in a central office. What's the goal with looking at how much school districts are paying for some of their top administrators?
"It's good for the taxpayer to understand whether tax dollars are being invested when it comes to the central office administrative part of public education.
"When I spend time at the polls, I'm hearing there's administrative bloat, or 'we are seeing our property taxes go up so high,' which is a problem. I think that they're wondering where those dollars are going to. So this bill is a common sense bill for taxpayer transparency."
Par茅 also discussed her bills to create tax exemptions for tipped wages and gambling losses, and a bill addressing extraterritorial jurisdiction powers for Wake County towns.
