BY KARISSA MILLER
North Carolina school districts, including Iredell-Statesville Schools, are experiencing budget difficulties that affect their ability to adequately fund services for Exceptional Children (EC) programs, retain highly qualified teachers and address other important priorities in public education.
As a result, the I-SS Board of Education on Monday unanimously approved a resolution in support of the N.C. House of Representatives proposed budget that addresses some of those issues.
I-SS Board Vice Chair Cindy Haynes highlighted some positive aspects of the proposed N.C. House budget for the 2025-2027 biennium, including:
• Teachers’ compensation increases: It would incorporate teacher raises for beginning teachers.
• Increased Funding for Students with Disabilities: The proposal raises the state’s funding cap for students with disabilities to 13.25 percent, aiming to better support school districts with higher percentages of students needing special education services.
• Expansion of Student Literacy Initiatives, student safety and health and teachers’ preparation and apprenticeships.
The I-SS resolution will be sent to each senator and representative in the N.C. General Assembly.
Superintendent Jeff James said that he hopes the Iredell County Board of Commissioners will consider sending a resolution in support of the proposed House budget.
“We have to do what’s right for kids. This House budget, at least, kicks the can a little further down the road with funding our teachers and keeping them in the classroom,” James explained.
On the other hand, the proposed N.C. Senate budget will result in “a mass exodus of teachers” that are near retirement, he added.
“It’s not about the pay anymore. It’s the utter disrespect of being a teacher in our state. Our morale — I’m not sure it could get any lower,” James said.
Teachers are often tasked with additional responsibilities, such as addressing students’ medical needs, when their primary role is to educate.
North Carolina ranked 43rd nationally for average teacher pay and 39th for starting teacher pay in 2023-2024, according to the National Education Association.
The N.C. General Assembly has also eliminated pay incentives for longevity and master’s degrees.
“Our Senate has dismantled, for whatever reason, paying our teachers,” James said.
Due to a $3 million budget deficit, I-SS is planning to cut unfilled teaching jobs, reduce central office positions, close its virtual academy and make other cuts to balance the budget.
I am one of the teachers who left. In that same meeting, Jeff James admitted to sending district personnel to Kenya (Africa) and Jamaica in order to “recruit teachers”. He didn’t address my question on how much these trips cost the taxpayers of Iredell County. For a district $3 million in the hole, they’d rather cut teaching positions than foreign trips. Talk about waste. Also, neither the Board nor James addressed the justification for the superintendent’s $210,000-plus per year salary. I asked how he could get paid that much in light of year after year of increasing numbers of “low performing” schools. I went and spoke at the Board meeting to get answers and got a lot of lip service. We all got lip service. We taxpayers are being fleeced, our children and communities are suffering for it, and it won’t stop until we demand answers. If you care about the future stability of Iredell County, then please make your voices heard. Come to the Board meetings, make phone calls, write emails and letters. If we don’t stand up, we’re going to get run over.