Governor Cooper Urges State Employees to Give Public Schools a Lifeline

Staff and students suffer as COVID and lack of funding continue to rack schools. Source: NYT

Two weeks ago, Governor Roy Cooper announced that North Carolina’s more than 80,000 state employees will have the opportunity to use paid leave to staff public schools in the state. Before an order from the Office of State Human Resources changed the provision, full-time state employees were given 24 hours of paid Community Service Leave in order to volunteer their time at places such as schools and community centers as long as they did not collect payment from the volunteer organization. As of January 12 however, state employees will be able to receive paid Community Service Leave in addition to compensation from schools in exchange for filling in as substitute teachers, driving buses, working at cafeterias, or performing any other task that public schools may need. Part-time employees are also eligible for the program, which is set to end on February 15. In a statement, Governor Cooper said the move was intended to “lend a helping hand to … students at a time of severe staffing challenges” in public schools.

The policy change comes as a result of the intersection between school employee pay stagnation and the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the emergence of the Omicron variant. Before the newest budget was passed, North Carolina teachers statewide had not received a raise in over two years. In November of 2021, Superior Court Judge David Lee ruled that the state was obliged to distribute $1.7 billion to NC public schools in order to fulfill its obligation laid out in the Leandro Plan, a spending proposal put forth by Governor Cooper in conjunction with the State Board of Education to ensure that students of all backgrounds receive sufficient education. Although this order was later struck down by a three-judge panel, it demonstrates the frustration many North Carolinians feel towards the current education system in the state. North Carolina ranked 33rd in the country for teacher pay in the National Education Association’s 2021 study.

As schools struggled to fill positions, the seven day rolling average for COVID cases in North Carolina peaked in mid-January. While case numbers have since fallen, the same indicator for hospitalizations due to COVID has continued to rise. The most recent surge has further exacerbated the shortage problem as many teachers are forced to quarantine or choose to stay home for health reasons.

These issues have materialized in public schools across the state in recent weeks. Thousands of Wake County students have had to find alternative methods for getting to school due to a school bus driver shortage. The county, which is home to the largest school system in the state, is considering consolidating bus routes. This would require many students to travel further in order to catch the bus. In response to rising shortages, the Wake County School System directed schools not to consider going online unless 20% or more of their total staff are absent, a figure that many schools have already reached. The issue is not confined to Wake county though, Charlotte Mecklenburg County Schools has lost nearly 10% of its total teacher workforce since the beginning of this school year, and students at eight high schools in Greensboro and High Point have been without bus service for over two weeks. 

Overall, the state has been generally reluctant to issue more funding to schools even amidst rising inflation. Instead, officials have turned to short-term solutions such as offering retention bonuses and filling gaps in schools with state employees. The new state budget approved in November of 2021 does include a 5% raise in teacher pay in addition to salary supplements for other school employees like counselors and audiologists. However, some have noted that school funding in the budget still falls drastically short of the Leandro Plan’s target spending. If schools are unable to find ways to recruit and retain more teachers and staff soon, North Carolina could have an education crisis on its hands.