This week, educators across North Carolina organized walkouts to call for higher teacher pay, caps on rising health care premiums, and fully-funded public schools. Their actions follow recent polling that shows growing public dissatisfaction with the state of public education–concerns that respondents largely attribute to decisions made by state and local leaders.
Teachers Calling for Action
While a draft House budget includes proposed increases in teacher pay, lawmakers are now more than six months overdue in passing a final state budget. On Wednesday, teachers organized by NC Teachers in Action demonstrated across the state to call attention to nationally-low educator compensation and the rising cost of health care for public employees.
In the early 2000s, North Carolina ranked around the middle of the pack nationally for teacher salaries and has since dropped to 43rd. As a result, the state continues to lose educators to neighboring states like Virginia, where salaries can be significantly higher.
Behind these staffing and compensation concerns lies a broader set of policy decisions about how–and how much–North Carolina chooses to fund its public schools.
Tax Cuts and Education Funding
According to the Education Law Center’s 2025 Making the Grade report, North Carolina ranks last in the nation for education funding effort and near the bottom for funding level. Analysis from the NC Budget & Tax Center shows that this is not a recent development: since the General Assembly’s 2013 tax policy changes, North Carolina has consistently ranked in the bottom five states for per-pupil funding. As successive tax cuts have taken effect, education funding, adjusted for inflation, has declined, impacting per-pupil spending and teacher salaries alike. As a result, the average public school student nationwide receives nearly 50% more funding than a student in North Carolina–a gap with significant implications for educational quality and economic competitiveness.
Achieving Educational Excellence
Even as funding constraints persist, education leaders across the state are advancing a clear vision for improving student outcomes and long-term success. Superintendent Mo Green’s statewide fall tour, following the launch of the Department of Public Instruction’s new strategic plan, reflects a strong commitment to engaging educators, students, families, and community members. The tour also spotlighted the many successes already taking place in schools across North Carolina.
Yet sustaining this momentum requires adequate investment. A recent survey from Elon University shows that while overall satisfaction with public education is declining, residents report much higher satisfaction with their own local schools, pointing to trust in educators and school communities, alongside growing frustration with broader policy and funding decisions that shape what schools are able to deliver.
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