Additional reporting by Elizabeth Friend

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools board members gather Thursday night to vote on the upcoming year’s budget.

The district’s website projected posting the budget proposal late last week, but due to the delay by the North Carolina Legislature on its budget decisions, the district pushed the release date to Monday. However, the proposal, which has one hour of the nearly four-hour meeting set aside for it, wasn’t posted to the district’s website until Tuesday morning.

Many concerns swirled around the General Assembly’s budget as teaching assistants were in danger of losing their jobs. Last year, in response to state budget cuts, CHCCS hired new teaching assistants on one-year contracts that the district paid for using reserve funds. School officials said the district ran out of the reserve funds to cover the shortfall, and they waited to see what, if anything, the state would do to help pay for teaching assistants.

With the passage of the $21.1 billion state budget, teaching assistants should be safe. However, some teachers aren’t happy with the final numbers.

Though some called the new budget “historic” for putting $282 million towards education, some educators themselves have criticized the new teacher pay plan.

That’s because longevity pay, the bonus once awarded to teachers with more than ten years of experience is no longer guaranteed. Instead, the new plan caps teacher salaries at $50,000 for those with more than 25 years in the classroom and rolls longevity pay into the base salaries.

This has some long-term teachers estimating their raises at closer to 2-4 percent, while starting teachers will receive a seven-percent boost. Those with half a decade of experience could see as much as an 18-percent increase.

Related Stories
‹
Save Money, Help Local Teachers
Buy a coupon book, save money, and provide Estes Hills teachers with funds for professional development.
On School Funding, BOCC Faces Tough Choices
The BOCC faces a number of difficult decisions when it comes to school funding.
Local Electeds React To State Senate Budget
Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and CHCCS board member James Barrett react to the Senate budget and other actions by the NCGA.
CHCCS Officials Already Worried About "Loss Of Jobs" In 2014
With the district's fund balance now dry, CHCCS officials say there could be even more cuts next year--including teacher and TA positions.
CHCCS Elementary Schools' Early Start Time Will Not Move Forward
Facing a bus driver shortage, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education recently brainstormed solutions to get students to school on time. One possibility was moving elementary school start times forward. But some parents were opposed to this change, and the school board decided against it.
Chapel Hill High School Choir Performs at Radio City, Carnegie Hall
Last month, choir students at Chapel Hill High School made a trip to New York to perform at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall — along with the Rockettes and Eric Whitacre.
'It's Not About Me': CHCCS Teachers Provide Support Through Pandemic
As local K-12 schools begin to wrap up their spring semesters, some teachers are still trying to come to terms with the past year. 
Viewpoints: Thank a Teacher. Vote.
Thank a Teacher. Vote.  A perspective from Lisa Kaylie Social media has been full of memes of frazzled parents, strung out by the demands of sudden homeschooling. The one recurring theme is that teaching is far more challenging than a lot of people thought. We all have a deeper appreciation of public school teachers after […]
Viewpoints: Our County’s Local School Crisis
Our County’s Local School Crisis A perspective from Lisa Kaylie On October 22, a North Carolina teacher posted a video of water pouring over student lockers after a rainstorm. Just weeks earlier, students at the school had to make an emergency evacuation after their HVAC system caught fire. The school? Phillips Middle School in […]
Orange County Commissioners Weigh Budget Amendments on Climate, Schools
The final pieces of the puzzle that will form next year’s Orange County operating budget will be negotiated on Tuesday night as the county commissioners hold a work session to discuss more than two dozen amendments that have been proposed by commissioners and county staff during the budget process. “The amendments are proposed, nothing has […]
›