WRAL: Capping North Carolina’s Top Tax Rate Isn’t Good for Our Communities

Following is an excerpt from an op-ed written by ITEP deputy director Meg Wiehe:

Earlier this year, teachers across the country staged walkouts or full-on strikes to protest low wages and lack of investment in education. North Carolina public school teachers and their allies participated too, calling for better pay and more overall school spending to improve our children’s education.

Right now, the Tar Heel state is not investing as much in public school education as it should, or even as it did before the 2007-2009 economic recession. School funding is down 7.9 percent per student since then, after adjusting for inflation. And despite some recent salary increases, average teacher pay has fallen 5 percent since 2010, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. If we truly care about making sure our young people are prepared to lead their best lives and asuring our state continues to be a desirable place to live, we should be investing more, not less, in our children. Read more

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