By admin 
RALEIGH, N.C. (WJZY) — Republicans in Raleigh said this week that they had an agreement on a budget that will increase teacher pay in North Carolina. Despite that, the state’s largest teacher union is arguing that what has been presented so far falls short of what they were asking for during statewide demonstrations earlier this month.
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House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate President Pro Tempore appeared together on Tuesday to announce that Republicans in the two chambers had overcome major sticking points and had agreed on a framework for a budget. Hall said that the framework included the largest raise for teachers since 2006.
“This budget is really an unprecedented one for education in this state. The average teacher pay raise in our budget will be eight percent. It will take starting teachers to number one in the South,” said Hall.
Pay raises were something that teachers were demanding when they marched on Raleigh on May 1.
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“It’s been a crisis the whole time. This year, however, the crisis has reached a much more significant point. And it feels like it’s time we need to—we need to have a different kind of public conversation,” said NCAE’s Bryan Proffitt during an interview with Chief Political Correspondent Andy Weber.
But in a statement issued after Hall and Berger’s announcement, the NCAE argued the raises won’t do enough to offset rising prices and that pay would still be 25 percent behind the national average.
The budget agreement is not final, but lawmakers hope to have it passed in mid-June or early July. In a statement, Governor Josh Stein said he would welcome the proposed raises.
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