Story by Sofía Basurto
Cover by Jane Durden
Sofía Basurto
Diana Chapman is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill and growing up, she always knew she wanted to be a teacher.
After graduation, she plans to do a Masters of Arts in Teaching at UNC. Despite her current track and enthusiasm about teaching, Chapman says there was a time she steered away from it, because of the pay in NC.
Diana Chapman
“The general consensus across the US is always just like teachers don’t get paid well and they like, have to do a bunch of stuff that they don’t sign up for.”
Sofía Basurto
Her discomfort about the low pay was originally a big reason why she’s pursuing her masters.
In North Carolina’s Wake County, teachers are paid a base salary based on their years of experience. Those who hold a master’s degree get a raise in their base pay. Up until 10 years ago it used to be a statewide thing until the state took it away. And now Wake County has brought it back by using local funds to pay teachers an extra 10%.
This was in practice for several reasons.
Elena Ashburn is a central area superintendent in the Wake County Public School system. In her experience, masters level degrees have a positive quality impact on a teacher’s abilities, their own learning, and their professional development.
Elena Ashburn
“I believe that it is ultimately what’s best for kids, because it helps ensure that we have the best teachers in front of them each and every day. It helps us to recruit the best and the brightest.”
Sofía Basurto
Recruitment and retention are huge benefits related to the additional pay. Ashburn says that there are a lot of teachers who are committed to their work even without the additional pay. But, the pay is a well deserved reward for the commitment.
[Audio: Classroom noise]
Sofía Basurto
Tara Wojciechowski is a science teacher of 27 years in Wake County.
But she doesn’t have a master’s degree, instead she has her national board certification, which gives her a 12% additional pay as opposed to master’s 10%.
Tara Wojciechowski
“It was a no brainer. I didn’t have to pay anything and I passed the certification and it was more than a master’s degree anyway, right?”
Sofía Basurto
The out of pocket cost for a masters degree is a downside to this recruitment and teacher retention plan. Teachers not only have to pay for tuition, but also lose potential income while they’re in school. And critics say it motivates teachers to get masters degrees, not become better teachers. In terms of education, a masters degree would place teachers at the same level as others who just completed their undergraduate degree in education.
It also leads to competition across counties.
Susan Book
“Our rural counties can’t do that kind of supplemental pay program that our urban counties are doing.”
Sofía Basurto
That’s Susan Book, one of the co-founders of Save Our Schools NC, a parent led group for the passage of good education policies.
Susan Book
“And so we see great inequities and teacher pay across the state.”
Sofía Basurto
Rural counties are at a disadvantage when it comes to retaining teachers, which affects student’s education.
[Audio: Classroom noise]
Turning its advocacy on the General Assembly to pay teachers a livable wage throughout their whole careers, is one way Save Our Schools is addressing the problem.
I’m Sofía Basurto reporting.
