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When I was talking to Providence High English teacher Nicole Jenkins about changes in stipends for extra duties, I asked about another change in compensation: The expiration of federal COVID-19 aid.
I knew Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, like districts across our region, had pumped millions of dollars into bonuses and stipends for educators. The pandemic exacerbated teacher shortages, and districts got into bidding wars.
Still, my jaw dropped when Jenkins, whose husband is also a teacher, responded: “The two of us together are going to lose $16,000 next year with the expiration of the ESSER funds.”
She explained: Both teach high school English in CMS. That meant each qualified for $200 a month as a critical needs bonus. And as team leader for her department, she got an extra $1,200 a month.
Everyone understood that the federal money was temporary. But that’s a heck of a hit.
And variations on that theme are playing out across the state.
“Early estimates suggest that more than $1 billion of the $2.5 billion already expended in ESSER III funding in North Carolina has been spent on personnel and compensation, nearly 80 percent of which is tied to personnel with a direct impact on academics,” policy researcher Matthew Springer wrote in EducationNC last week. He argues that districts will have to work hard and get creative to counteract shrinking paychecks and disappearing jobs.
CMS has been doing just that. Superintendent Crystal Hill has restructured jobs, including the elimination of a popular “guest teacher” program that provided all schools with site-based substitutes. She has said the goal is beefing up staffing for essential academic areas.
Challenges haven’t disappeared
Again, the COVID-19 relief money was always intended to be a short-term infusion of cash to cope with an extraordinary challenge. And I’m sure teachers are glad they no longer have to wear masks or juggle a laptop to teach online and in person simultaneously.
But the pandemic’s aftermath is far from over. Academic setbacks, mental health challenges, high absence rates and ongoing staff shortages continue to make a tough job harder. So while some educators may simply be grateful for the temporary boost in pay, I suspect many others will experience a smaller paycheck as a kick in the pants. Meanwhile, North Carolina’s General Assembly adjourned without taking a vote on a House plan that would have boosted teacher raises for 2024-25.
In the context of stipends for extra duties, Jenkins talked about the feeling that teachers are expected to provide “gifted or guilted labor” — that is, to work for free because they care about their kids.
Good teachers do care about their students. But exploiting those feelings to justify underpayment is “not really the best way to keep our teachers in our classrooms (and) keep our teachers in our districts,” Jenkins said.
