Pay teachers like South Carolina does?

At a panel discussion this morning, I objected to a talking point that a fellow participant used during the event.  He complained that North Carolina’s teacher salaries were losing ground to South Carolina.  I pointed out that South Carolina’s public schools receive a much higher percentage of its funding from localities than North Carolina does.   As a result, “being more like South Carolina” would require that North Carolina counties increase their share of education spending significantly.  (His response was to declare that I am “usually wrong.”)

According to the National Education Association’s (NEA) annual Rankings and Estimates publication:

REVENUE AND NON-REVENUE RECEIPTS 2017 ($ THOUSANDS)

North Carolina

Federal: $1,531,795 (10 percent)

State: $8,525,490 (58 percent)

Local: $4,708,856 (32 percent)

Total: $14,766,141

South Carolina

Federal: $846,892 (9 percent)

State: $4,479,804 (48 percent)

Local: $4,062,648 (43 percent)

Total: $9,389,344

In South Carolina, public education revenue is nearly evenly split between the state and local governments.  Clearly, that is not the case in North Carolina.  Of course, it’s a faulty comparison in the first place, but the NEA confirms that I am correct.