Confused on NC teacher salary scale and system (Raleigh: get credit, school district)

[LRoyal10900]

Originally Posted by InquiryingMind

Why are teachers in the South (NC) paid only once a month when they work everyday instead of once a month? What happen to an honest days pay for an honest day of work? How can anyone survive the entire month without money until the next pay day?

~InquiryingMind

It's called budgeting. They're paid and honest day's pay for an honest day of work...on the last business day of the month.

It's actually quite easier getting by being paid once a month than twice a month. You pay your bills when you get paid...get them out of the way. Then you know exactly how much $ you have to get by on for the rest of the month.

My husband is a state employee and he's worked with DOT where they were paid twice a month, and he's worked with other agencies where they're paid once a month. It's easier getting by being paid once a month.

[Adrienne88]

Re: Health insurance for your kids/spouse if you're a teacher - it's cheaper to pay out of pocket for insurance through BCBS or one of the other plans if you're on the state health plan. We saved about $100/month when we switched husband + 2 boys to the individual plan. The state plan is okay if you're single or if your spouse's insurance covers the children, but I agree it's not worth it when you have a couple of dependents. Now, if you had 6 kids it would be a very good deal as you pay the same no matter how many dependents you have. But since most people don't have 6 kids...
And as for being paid once a month - you budget and plan accordingly. As for being paid poorly, that's another story. Yes, housing costs are way cheaper than the Northeast. But cars and gas cost about the same, as does food, entertainment, etc. In other words, your mortgage may not be as high but everything else is.
If we want the quality of schools to improve in this state we will need to start paying our teachers better. The pay comes from the old days when all teachers were women whose husbands were the main breadwinner. Many teachers are still women, but the days of living off hubby's salary are over. Many women are single, single with kids, or are in situations where both spouses absolutely have to work to make ends meet.
Union or not, this has to happen. And it has to come from the parents/non-teachers, as I see it. B/c it's about quality of education.
Smart people leave teaching every day, and when the economy recovers teachers will wise up. They work too many hours, have too many degrees, and get paid too little to put up with it for long.
(Getting off my soapbox now!)
A

[Francois]

Originally Posted by InquiryingMind

Why are teachers in the South (NC) paid only once a month when they work everyday instead of once a month? What happen to an honest days pay for an honest day of work? How can anyone survive the entire month without money until the next pay day?

It's not just teachers, but state employees. But the pay comes out the same no matter how many paychecks you get (??). Do you think we are getting somehow "gypped"? It's hard to adjust to at first, but you quickly get used to it and just learn to streatch things. The paycheck is nice and fat when it does come!

Thanks for the update on what's going on down there dealing with the teacher's system. Please keep my updated so I can have updated info when I move to NC.

If your main goal is "to get out of NJ", you might look into other states besides NC that won't be such a pay cut? There are 48 others that aren't NJ

[drinkmoxie]

Well while there is some correct information, there is also some very wrong information or rather uninformed comments made.

Most if not all state employees get paid once a month in NC. Most counties have an option to pay you 12 months rather than 10 months even if you work at a traditional calendar school. If they do not give you this option the State Employee Credit Union has a wonderful program called the Summer Savings Account and they automatically take the needed funds from your check and deposit it into an account and then they give you half in June and half in July (the months you wouldn't normally get a check). It also earns a little interest while it is there.

As far as supplements go, the counties I have taught in spread the money out over all year as where my wife who teaches in a different county gets half in December and half in June.

I find the health care is pretty good and you cannot beat the coverage once you retire. It is a little expensive to cover spouses, but to cover children it is one set cost for as many children as you have.

Lastly, if you are budget concious, and you made good decisions, the pay and benefits are more than enough to get by on and put money away for savings. My wife and I carry no debt excpet our car loan and house mortgage on two teacher salaries. I also find that the salary in NC is comparable to where we used to live in Ohio where they had teacher unions. Cost of living is another big plus, sales tax may be a little higher than those in Ohio, but the property taxes are 1/3 of what they were in Ohio. I know NJ has even higher property taxes.

So like they say it is all relative. But know that being a teacher in NC is not the end of the world. It is an extremely enjoyable profession and you can live very comfortably doing it. My wife and I live in Cary just outside of Raleigh so it's not like I am writing from some backwoods county where the cost of living is dirt.

[freshjiv]

Wow, has any teachers looked at the payscale for 2010-2011!! My wife is in step 6 with a masters, which puts her salary at $37,440 for this year. Whats so screwed up about this is that just LAST year it was $38,920 at this same step. In 2008-2009 she would have been making $40,340 at this step, which is a 10% increase from where it is now, and in 2007-2008 it was $38,920 at this same step, and $38,400 in 2006-2007. So not only did she not get a step increase last year, she actually took 2 step decreases this year, by taking that $1,500 paycut and also by not getting the step increase again this year. Thats just insane, and she is now making what she did when she was still in her ILT training and only had 2 years experience. Whats really screwed up is they have moved from lumping 0-1 years experience together at the same step to having 0-2 years experience now lumped together in the same step, thereby reducing all the regularly salaries of all the other steps. Not only did the NC teachers not get their step this year (like they did not last year), they also got a pay decrease of over 1K. This is just pathetic. So she has lost almost 10% in salary over the last 2 years. Just insane. Good thing she isn't working this year. No wonder our schools fu*king blow.

Check em out here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/...1schedules.pdf

[IBrakeforTailgaters]

Originally Posted by freshjiv

Wow, has any teachers looked at the payscale for 2010-2011!! My wife is in step 6 with a masters, which puts her salary at $37,440 for this year. Whats so screwed up about this is that just LAST year it was $38,920 at this same step. In 2008-2009 she would have been making $40,340 at this step, which is a 10% increase from where it is now, and in 2007-2008 it was $38,920 at this same step, and $38,400 in 2006-2007. So not only did she not get a step increase last year, she actually took 2 step decreases this year, by taking that $1,500 paycut and also by not getting the step increase again this year. Thats just insane, and she is now making what she did when she was still in her ILT training and only had 2 years experience. Whats really screwed up is they have moved from lumping 0-1 years experience together at the same step to having 0-2 years experience now lumped together in the same step, thereby reducing all the regularly salaries of all the other steps. Not only did the NC teachers not get their step this year (like they did not last year), they also got a pay decrease of over 1K. This is just pathetic. So she has lost almost 10% in salary over the last 2 years. Just insane. Good thing she isn't working this year. No wonder our schools fu*king blow.

Check em out here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/...1schedules.pdf

I know it is unfair, but you have to look at it on the bright side--at least she has a job. Thousands have been laid off and don't even have a means of paying their bills. Things will eventually recover; we're all suffering right now.

[zthatzmanz28]

Originally Posted by freshjiv

Wow, has any teachers looked at the payscale for 2010-2011!! My wife is in step 6 with a masters, which puts her salary at $37,440 for this year. Whats so screwed up about this is that just LAST year it was $38,920 at this same step. In 2008-2009 she would have been making $40,340 at this step, which is a 10% increase from where it is now, and in 2007-2008 it was $38,920 at this same step, and $38,400 in 2006-2007. So not only did she not get a step increase last year, she actually took 2 step decreases this year, by taking that $1,500 paycut and also by not getting the step increase again this year. Thats just insane, and she is now making what she did when she was still in her ILT training and only had 2 years experience. Whats really screwed up is they have moved from lumping 0-1 years experience together at the same step to having 0-2 years experience now lumped together in the same step, thereby reducing all the regularly salaries of all the other steps. Not only did the NC teachers not get their step this year (like they did not last year), they also got a pay decrease of over 1K. This is just pathetic. So she has lost almost 10% in salary over the last 2 years. Just insane. Good thing she isn't working this year. No wonder our schools fu*king blow.

Check em out here: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/...1schedules.pdf

And do not forget the $300-$500 (or more) most of us spend for classroom extras.
My pay has decreased each year since the 08-09 year as well. Yes it's nice to have a job (ask Mary Easley) but really, has the govenor paid to keep her job by cutting her pay 10%?

I do not remember ever seeing a salary scale that went in reverse?

[LRoyal10900]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

And do not forget the $300-$500 (or more) most of us spend for classroom extras.
My pay has decreased each year since the 08-09 year as well. Yes it's nice to have a job (ask Mary Easley) but really, has the govenor paid to keep her job by cutting her pay 10%?

I do not remember ever seeing a salary scale that went in reverse?

But you know what...I taught from 1993-1995. When I quit in 1995, I was only making $22k. I'm going back to work this year (if I get the job I'm interviewing for Monday) and with only 2 years experience, I'm at the first step---only making $8000 more than I did 15 years ago. You would think after all this time, it would be more!


Oh....some DOT employees get paid bi-weekly. And maybe some DOC employees. Everyone else gets paid monthly.


As for teacher supplements....some schools pay them in June. Cumberland County pays 8.5%-9.5% based on experience.

And don't forget longevity that you receive after 10 years of service.

As for receiving health care after you retire--it used to be you could get this after only 5 years of service. It's now 20 years.

[azteacher721]

I am glad that I found this thread. I have been teaching since 1992 in two different states and I have always been paid twice a month. I bet once a month takes getting used to. Right now my first check pays mortgage and HOA and the second pays everything else.

[azteacher721]

When you apply for a job here, do they pay for experience or do they start at a certain step. The district I am in now, gave me credit for every year that I have taught. However, they were only one of the few.