What is the beginning teachers salary in NC? (Charlotte: crime, look for a job)

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by jaynarie

Yeah, an extra $2000 or so a year! Maybe $5000 for a teacher that experienced in some areas. My district pays 2K for 0-4 years and it goes up $50 from there. It tops out at like $2700. So, even with a supplement (and not all schools have them), it is still well below 100K.

About a 11K annual supplement in Mecklenburg and Wake Counties for your hypothetical classroom teacher. Probably the largest supplements in the state.

Very few state employees are paid $100K or more. According to the Governor's Office, the average teacher in NC has a salary of 52K plus benefits, which is suppose to be slightly above the national average. Nothing unusual going on here. The compensation package is definitely something to consider before selecting a public service career.

[DawnW]

Teacher pay stinks here.

Health insurance covers you only! Any family/kids, add $650/month out of pocket.

Retirement, you pay in only 6% and they match only 3%. And remember your percentage is taken off of your salary and your salary is already fairly low.

It is just really hard to come from a state that paid teachers fairly well to a state that doesn't seem to value teachers much at all.

Dawn

[JMMH]

In terms of the Triangle, Chapel Hill's school system is probably considered one of the best in the state, if not the best school system. Durham's not so great and Raleigh is in between. There is a lot of growth in the area, so classrooms can get crowded.

My wife taught 3-5 graders for three years. The pay in NC is criminal for as much work as one needs to put into lesson planning, grading, etc. My wife used to bring so much work home every night.

I think NC may be towards the bottom nationally in teacher pay, but I have no data to confirm that.

[Waterboy526]

Originally Posted by DawnW

Teacher pay stinks here.

Health insurance covers you only! Any family/kids, add $650/month out of pocket.

Retirement, you pay in only 6% and they match only 3%. And remember your percentage is taken off of your salary and your salary is already fairly low.

It is just really hard to come from a state that paid teachers fairly well to a state that doesn't seem to value teachers much at all.

Dawn

I don't know where you only get the 3% matching. Don't know about your county, but Wake county matches 7.83% on top of your 6%. It's really not that bad. Benefits are good, except family medical does suck. Overall, you'll basically do better in the bigger cities.

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by JMMH

I think NC may be towards the bottom nationally in teacher pay, but I have no data to confirm that.

Somewhat dated, but it's the most current I can find.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Press Release - March 2007

http://www.aft.org/presscenter/relea...ySurvey-NC.pdf

[jaynarie]

NEA: Student Program - State Info: Alabama thru Kansas This compares all the states, but not in a chart. It is for 05-06 and the most current I could find. According to it, the NC average salary is $43,922. The state I moved from's is $58,482. Of course, there are no jobs there due to the awful economy and population decreases.

I read through and the following states have lower averages: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Lousiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

It surprised me that there were so many!

Vermont, Utah, South Dakota, South Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Maine are the only states with a lower beginning salary.

[angelar75]

Originally Posted by JMMH

In terms of the Triangle, Chapel Hill's school system is probably considered one of the best in the state, if not the best school system. Durham's not so great and Raleigh is in between. There is a lot of growth in the area, so classrooms can get crowded.

My wife taught 3-5 graders for three years. The pay in NC is criminal for as much work as one needs to put into lesson planning, grading, etc. My wife used to bring so much work home every night.

I think NC may be towards the bottom nationally in teacher pay, but I have no data to confirm that.

The Pew Center is a good website for information on teachers and school performance.Click on "Quality Counts 2008". North Carolina is the lowest salary.

[mm34b]

The Pew Report states "North Carolina had the lowest comparable teacher pay, with just 78.8 cents to every dollar earned by other professions". That's professions other than public school teachers. If you compare teaching salaries in NC to teaching salaries in other states, NC ranks average nationally.

Report: Teachers earn less than peers

[Dingo125]

Listen, if you wish to make any money as an educator, stay away from North Carolina. There is NO union representation and the state controls the pay scale...in other words the pay for a teacher in Charlotte-Meck school district will be the same as a teacher the Rowan-Salisbury district or the Wake County school system. The only other factor that would give you an increase in salary is the county by county supplement (some paces are higher than others, thus giving a disparity in pay throughout the state). The other horrible part of being a teacher in this state is that you only GET PAID ONLY ONCE A MONTH. I assume this is largely in part so the state leaders can rape us in taxes. By the time taxes have been taken out of each of my paychecks, I find that I can hardly afford to live. I swear, people who have families and are educators must rely upon food stamps eat and live in section 8 housing...I don't know how they live!? All I know is that once I attain my Master's Degree I'm out of here and heading back up North where they value education and respect teachers!

[purplechik3842]

Thank you all for your comments. I will take all of them into consideration.

Florida is becoming very bad in the educational department. There is currently a hiring freeze, teachers are getting fired, and the pay is not sufficient enough to live comfortably. I went to salary.com and if you make $33,800 in NC it is the same as making $40,000 here in Miami, Florida. Big difference!

My question to all of you is, where could i go if not to NC?

Do not include GA. It might be better pay but the schools are not so good and they take a lot from your paycheck for taxes.