Educators speak out against new merit pay proposal – and NC Superintendent Truitt isn’t listening
The North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) has now spoken out against a controversial measure aimed at overhauling the way teachers are promoted and paid in North Carolina.
The new proposal, which was discussed by the North Carolina Board of Education a few weeks ago, would determine teacher pay based on factors such as evaluations by teachers, students and administrators, and student performance on standardized tests. The current system gives teachers annual raises based on experience during the first 15 years of their careers.
State Superintendent Catherine Truitt and Board Chair Eric Davis seem to believe this new system would provide a solution to the shortage of teachers in the state. They are wrong.
- The proposal by Truitt and Davis is right out of the NCGOP’s playbook – instead of simply doing the right thing (paying teachers a fair wage) they have come up with a merit pay system that teachers are against and fails to properly address the growing teacher shortage crisis.
- The Republican-led General Assembly has, for years, failed our state’s teachers in a variety of ways – such as ungenerous pay raises, attempts to censor what’s being taught, and failure to adopt the Leandro funding plan – and they are now seeing the impact of their neglect.
- Despite rulings from multiple state judges since the case was originally heard in 1994, Republicans still refuse to fund the Leandro plan. Leandro would funnel billions of dollars into public education across the state and make investments toward supporting teachers and school staff in North Carolina.
Here’s what two teachers had to say about the plan, according to WTVD:
“This plan is just another reminder that to the state it’s never enough because the lives we shape aren’t important. It’s about testing and flawed data,” said Wake County teacher Kiana Espinoza.
“The plan is more of a deterrent than an encouragement for teachers to enter the profession. I’ve said before that this plan is punitive in nature,” said Harnett County educator Daria Fedrick.
The only conclusion one can come to when looking at Davis and Truitt’s proposal is that they either don’t understand their jobs or just don’t care. All one needs to do is listen to the teachers – and they’re not.
