Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill told the Rotary Club of Charlotte on Tuesday that the district should be receiving a state supplement that most other school districts get.
Teacher salaries are primarily set by the state, with counties able to add a local supplement.
All but four school districts in the state also receive an additional supplement from the state. But the districts with the biggest tax bases — CMS, along with Wake, Durham and Guilford counties — don’t get that supplement.
As several bills aiming to increase teacher pay cycle through the General Assembly, Hill said on Tuesday she believes that state supplement is the “biggest lever” that advocates can pull for CMS teachers.
“If you're saying raise teacher pay for everyone, in my mind, they may think, ‘Oh, we may not have the funds for that, you know if we have this much money it’s not going to go very far,'" Hill said. "But if we really start pushing on, ‘Hey, let's give that state supplement to those four counties,’ that would really be a big boost for our teachers here in Mecklenburg.”
Hill said the supplement is necessary for teachers to keep up with the high cost of living in Mecklenburg County. She also said it would help Mecklenburg County better compete with neighboring counties that do get that supplement and with counties in South Carolina to recruit and retain teachers.
Another issue, she said, is the lack of movement on the state pay scale after 15 years of service. That creates what she called "a hole in the bathtub" of teachers leaving North Carolina after 15 years of service.
CMS is exploring requesting the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners increase its local teacher supplement by about 5% next year, with higher rates available for teachers with more than 15 years of service.
Hill also addressed ongoing uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will cut the U.S. Department of Education.
Responding to a question from the audience, Hill said she believes the gutting of the U.S. Department of Education wouldn’t be detrimental for the district — unless it came with an erosion of federal funding.
Hill said she’d worry about a scenario in which federal funding currently administered by the department could wind up merely backfilling cuts in other areas.
“I think, what they'll end up doing is sending the money to the states," Hill said. "That may not be a bad idea. The concern that I would have is the whole supplanting issue. Like, eventually, would we get to a situation where there would be an erosion of funds that really should be supplementing and not necessarily supplanting?”
