RALEIGH (May 2, 2019) – The 2019-21 state budget the N.C. House is moving to approve this week continues to award healthy raises to K-12 teachers and makes some strategic investments in higher education, especially in the area of capital.

But it doesn’t do nearly enough for our public colleges’ and universities’ human capital.

House leaders announced Tuesday that K-12 teachers would get average raises of 4.8 percent, assistant principals 6.3 percent and principals 10 percent. The House budget also would reinstate additional pay for teachers with master’s degrees that legislators eliminated in 2013.¹

The raise for teachers goes more than half-way toward the 9.1 percent raise that Gov. Roy Cooper proposed for teachers over two years. Depending on what other states do, it should make North Carolina more competitive.

Legislators deserve credit for continuing to raise teachers’ salaries, which have risen from a rank of 47th in the nation in 2013-14 to an average of $53,975 and a rank of 29th in 2018-19.²

As the state confronts a shortage of students training to become teachers, they also deserve credit for expanding the NC Teaching Fellows program, which provides forgivable loans to students who agree to teach in high-demand fields, from five to eight universities.³

But K-12 teachers aren’t the only ones who teach our children.

State employees – including university and community college faculty – would receive raises of just 1 percent or $500, whichever is larger, in the House proposal. They would also receive five bonus days of leave.

Rep. Donny Lambeth, R-Forsyth, a senior chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said some university employees might get raises larger than 1 percent, depending on how institutions distribute their salary allotments.⁴

But 1 percent won’t cut it, especially after years of paltry raises of 1.5 percent or less for university and community-college faculty that didn’t keep pace with inflation or their peer institutions. It will likely make North Carolina less competitive, leading to more poaching of university faculty.

And at $47,362,⁵ average salaries for community-college instructors are in fact less than those of K-12 teachers.

Our public universities and community colleges find it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain quality instructors. And this comes at a time when the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce projects that by 2020 – a year from now – 67 percent of North Carolina jobs will require education beyond high school.⁶

What can be more important to the quality of North Carolina’s workforce?

A noteworthy change in budget procedure is that the UNC System will receive no funds for enrollment growth next year as it shifts to funding in arrears based on actual enrollment, rather than projected enrollment.⁷ Under the House budget, universities would receive $33.6 million for enrollment growth in the second year of the budget.⁸

The House proposal would also increase the amount the UNC System can carry forward from one budget year to the next from 2.5 percent of General Fund appropriations to 7.5 percent.⁹

THE HOUSE BUDGET proposal would make other notable strategic improvements as well. It would provide:

• $69 million to reduce summer school tuition at state universities – a significant investment in helping students graduate on time.
• An additional $2.3 million for UNC System data analytics, bringing total funding to $3.8 million. This has been a high priority of the system to monitor critical metrics and efficiency.
• An additional $1 million in 2019-20 and $3 million in 2020-21 for Faculty Recruitment and Retention Fund, bringing total funding to $14.5 million in 2019-20 and $16.5 million in 2020-21. This fund helps state universities compete when other schools try to lure away faculty.
• $2.2 million to continue expanding the College Advising Corps in NC high schools, with a 2-1 match requirement. This should help expand the “near-peer” advising program among rural and other under-represented populations.
• An additional $4.8 million for the Western School of Medicine in Asheville, bringing total funding to $15.4 million.
• $4.8 million for Southern Regional AHEC to add surgery and family-practice residencies and make structural improvements.
• $2 million in matching funds for NC State to continue in a collaboration to speed development of biopharmaceuticals.¹⁰
• $8 million for short-term workforce training at community colleges, a priority for the State Board of Community Colleges and a significant need for the state.
• $2.8 million in additional funding to place community college Career Coaches in NC high schools, bringing total funding to $5.6 million.
• $2 million for new community-college scholarships for high-achieving students who have at least a 3.5 GPA in high school.¹¹

When it comes to capital projects, the House budget would address a number of needs across the University System:

• $250 million in 2019-20 and $125 million in 2020-21 for Repairs and Renovations of state buildings. It appears that only ¼ of those funds, though – $62.5 million in 2019-20 – would go to the UNC System, which estimates it has a backlog of $4.4 billion  in repair and renovation needs.
• $16.5 million in 2019-20 to complete renovation of the Steam Plant at Western Carolina.
• $10 million in 2019-20 and $36 million in 2020-21 for the renovation and expansion of Jackson Library at UNC Greensboro. Total authorized project cost is $84 million.
• $10 million for ongoing renovations of Dobo Hall at UNC Wilmington.
• $5.6 million in 2019-20 and $14.1 million in 2020-21 for expansion and renovation of Randall Library at UNCW. Total authorized project cost is $56.4 million.
• $4.5 million in 2019-20 and $11.25 million in 2020-21 for renovation of the Cameron and Burson buildings at UNC Charlotte. Total cost is $45 million.
• $10 million in 2019-20 and $7 million in 2020-21 for a new building at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at UNC-Chapel Hill. The public share of the cost is $75 million, and UNC must raise $75 million in non-state matching funds.
• $14 million in 2019-20 and $21 million in 2020-21 for a new STEM Building at NC State. Total cost is $80 million, and NC State must raise $80 million in matching funds.
• $15 million in 2019-20 and $13 million in 2020-21 for a new building for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Total project cost is $215 million.¹²

The House budget also allocate $200 million in bond proceeds to specific university projects if HB 241 – the House’s education bond proposal – becomes law:

• $32 million for a new library building at ECU.
• $42.2 million for renovation of the UNC School of the Arts’ Stevens Center.
• $25.4 million to renovate Wey Hall at Appalachian State.
• $13.7 million to renovate the Rosenthal/Chick Building at Fayetteville State University.
• $31.2 million to renovate the Givens Performing Arts Center at UNC Pembroke.
• $15.1 million to renovate and expand the Hauser Building at Winston-Salem State University.
• $11.9 million for Phase II renovation of the Moore Building at Western Carolina.
• $10 million for renovations and repairs at the NC School of Science and Math.
• $18.5 million for renovation of Carver Hall at N.C. A&T State University.

There is also $200 million in the bond proposal for the state’s 58 community colleges. There was no plan for allocating these funds included in the budget.¹³

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¹https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Budget/2019/AllCommitteeReport_ForFloor_2019_05_01.pdf, pp. B18, B34; https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article229865094.html.
² https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2019/03/nc-teacher-pay-right-direction/.
³ https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2019/4239/0/H966-PCS10621-MGxfap-6, pp. 105-106.
⁴ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article229865094.html
⁵ https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2019/01/community-colleges-agenda/.
⁶ Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, https://1gyhoq479ufd3yna29x7ubjn-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/StateProjections_6.1.15_agc_v2.pdf, pp. 3, 76-77.
⁷ https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2019/4239/0/H966-PCS10621-MGxfap-6, pp. 99-100.
⁸https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Budget/2019/AllCommitteeReport_ForFloor_2019_05_01.pdf, p. B34.
⁹ https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2019/4239/0/H966-PCS10621-MGxfap-6, p. 97.
¹⁰https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Budget/2019/AllCommitteeReport_ForFloor_2019_05_01.pdf, pp. B34-B59.
¹¹https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Budget/2019/AllCommitteeReport_ForFloor_2019_05_01.pdf, pp. B6-B10.
¹²https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Budget/2019/AllCommitteeReport_ForFloor_2019_05_01.pdf, pp. H1-H4.
¹³https://webservices.ncleg.net/ViewBillDocument/2019/4239/0/H966-PCS10621-MGxfap-6, pp. 278-279.