What should every North Carolina resident be aware of? That North Carolina ranks forty-sixth among the fifty states in average teacher salary, Superintendent Aaron Spence told members of the Moore County Board of Education during their Monday, March 11 meeting.
Teacher salaries have been frozen since 2009 — and 18% of state-funded teachers are frozen at the bottom of the pay scale, Spence said. Given increases in the cost of living over that period, the average teacher has, in effect, taken a $4,000 pay cut.
Citizens can take action by contacting their state senator and representative and requesting a five percent increase in pay for educators. “It is not enough, but it is a start,” Spence said.
Spence presents budget
Turning to the proposed MCS budget for 2013-2014, Spence told the Board that a budget is more than a bunch of numbers. It provides the means for furthering MCS’ Core Beliefs.
“The first thing we look at is our Core Beliefs, and allow that to guide our budget,” Spence said. “The success of every child is our priority.”
Spence said great strides have been made during the last year to eliminate combination classes; provide teacher assistants for kindergarten and first grades; place instructional coaches in schools; increase literacy; provide support for students who are performing below grade level; and establish a comprehensive plan for closing the achievement gap.
In order to achieve those goals, it was necessary to address the loss of 176 positions due to budget cuts in 2009 and 2011. During the 2012-13 school year, 63 positions were filled, including 51 in the classroom, nine in classroom support, and three in central support.
The MCS budget includes everything from enhancing school safety to a new GPS system for the transportation department. Also within the budget is funding to make sure instructors have what they need to teach, including necessary materials in math and science.
“We need to provide not only instructional support and professional support, but also material support,” said Spence.
Federal & state funding flat
MCS received revenue flows from the County, the State, and the Federal governments. Projections of federal revenues FY2013-2014 are not encouraging.
MCS expects to receive the same $6.5 million in federal funding next year — the same as the current year. However, federal budget cuts related to sequestration could result in a $400,000 to $500,000 reduction for Moore County Schools. And “federal stimulus money is no longer there,” Spence said, referring to additional federal funds provided to school districts as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 and 2010.
On the state funding front, “we are projecting a slight increase in state funding in Career Technical Education (CTE) and for textbooks,” Spence said. MCS expects to receive $66.1 million in state funding this year, and $66.4 million next year.
Increase in County funding requested
For the last three years, MCS has not requested an increase in funding from Moore County, holding the local budget contribution steady at $25.5 million. But this year, Spence recommends that the Board of Education request and additional $750,000 from the Board of Commissioners, in order to fund Phase II of MCS’ 1:1 Initiative, which aims to put a digital device in the hands of every student.
Phase 1 of the initiative provided laptops to every teacher and student at Pinckney Academy and iPads to students and teachers at Carthage Elementary. This Spring, all teachers in the MCS system will receive laptops, and digital devices will be rolled out in middle schools in North Moore.
Phase II, scheduled for the 2013-14 school year, will put digital devices in the hands of students at Cranes Creek Middle, New Century Middle, Union Pines High School, and North Moore High School. Phase III, in the following year, will provide devices for students in southern Moore County schools, and Phase IV, in 2015-2016, will complete the rollout of digital devices in all elementary schools.
Explaining why elementary schools would be last in line to receive devices, Spence said: “We need to go from the top down, so that students always have a device once they have started with a device.”
Each phase will require additional staffing of facilitators and technical positions, including one technician for every 1500 devices. MCS serves nearly 13,000 students.
Once all students are equipped with digital devices, the district projects a four-year “refresh” interval, meaning that one-quarter of approximately 14,000 devices will need to be replaced each year. That is expected to cost a little over $3 million, and MCS projections envision Moore County picking up $2 million of that cost.
Spence was quick to make clear that laptops and tablets are not an end in themselves. “It’s not about the device they have in their hand,” Spence said. “It is about learning with the resource that they have in their hand.”
Tenure for Teachers Unlikely
There will most likely be no tenure for teachers reported School Board Member Kathy Farren. Farren, who also serves as a director on the NC School Boards Association (NCSBA) received updates regarding tenure Association’s March meeting.
“Last Fall, the NCSBA lobbied the legislature, on our behalf, regarding upcoming bills,” Farren said. “We then voted as a board to grandfather in all teachers already in the pipeline for tenure. It has become fairly apparent that it is not going to happen.”
The NCSBA directors also discussed a proposed bill that would allow county commissioners to take control of school property. “We have already sent a resolution opposing it,” said Farren.
“They asked us to bring our board to Raleigh and to visit and speak with our legislators,” Farren said. “It makes a much bigger impression if you show up in Raleigh on their turf.”
Student environmental effort praised
The March Student Growing to Greatness award was presented to Aayushi Patel, a Pinecrest senior, who has served for two years as the President of the Student Environmental Association. Over the last two years she has collected more than 31,000 chip bags for the TerraCycle Company’s Chip Bag Recycling Competition.
Collecting chip bags has apparently become the cool thing to do. “It has become almost a county wide endeavor,” said Libby Carter, Certified Staff at Pinecrest High School.
Patel’s future might be in the bag with her more than perfect GPA of 4.49. In her spare times she participates in other extracurricular activities including the Duke Walkathon and Kick for Kenya Shoe Drive. Patel plans include medical school and she has applied to both Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill.
National Champions
Libby Carter was recognized for leading the Pinecrest Debate team to its third National Championship. In February Pinecrest Debaters Elaine Kearney and Alex Snyder took first at the National Debate Tournament at Harvard University. Sam Lewis and Nick Temple placed sixth.
Carter credits her students for keeping calm under pressure. “You can not imagine what it takes to get to the point that these four did,” Carter said. “Equate it to the March Madness Preliminary. The stress that goes into it is mental and physical, rushing from one round to next. I enjoying going along with them and seeing them come out on top.”
The debaters proudly showed off their silver cups. “We couldn’t have done it without Ms. Carter and our teammates,” Snyder said.
The Pinecrest Debate Team is also helping to mentor the middle school debaters. High school students helped during the recent countywide middle school debate competition.
“Congratulations to all the middle school students, who worked hard and did a great job,” said board member Laura Lang. “I also want to thank the Pinecrest Debate Club, who attended the debate and helped mentor. That’s the way we keep growing.”
