Terry Stoops

Three weeks ago, Gov. Cooper told North Carolinians that he would announce their selection of one of three back-to-school options on July 1. For the most part, teachers were cool with that. The evening before the announcement, Cooper’s press office announced that Cooper would delay his much-anticipated decision. A few…

The North Carolina Virtual Public School is a state-run virtual school established in 2007.  An audit published by the Office of the State Auditor today is nothing less than an embarrassment. State auditors found: Eight of 12 NCVPS courses audited did not meet required curriculum content standards, increasing the…

State revenue is an estimated $4 billion short, but public school teachers don’t care. Over a million North Carolinians applied for unemployment benefits, and many private and nonprofit employers have cut employee hours and eliminated positions.  Nevertheless, public school teachers are spending their summer months complaining about their pay on…

My initial calculations indicate that North Carolina’s average teacher salary, when adjusted for cost of living (COL), ranks 26th in the nation.  I explained the methodology used to adjust for cost of living differences in a research brief published last year. The unadjusted ranking is 30th in the…

According to the annual Rankings and Estimates study released today, North Carolina’s average teacher salary of $54,682 is 30th among the 50 states and District of Columbia for the 2019-20 school year.  The revised averages for the 2018-19 school year also place North Carolina at number 30. As I…

NC State business professor Dr. Bart Danielsen asks that question in a thoughtful post on his blog, The Green Apples.  With his permission, I have reposted the piece here.   SYMPTOMS OF A PROBLEM: Growing up in Georgia in the 60s and 70s, I learned about…

State Sen. Jerry Tillman announced his retirement yesterday. Several teachers, presumably taking a break from preparations for the upcoming school year, expressed their opinions about Sen. Tillman on a popular Facebook group page.  None of the posts were more grotesque that the exchange screenshotted below.

The Office of the Auditor published a financial statement audit of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for the year ended June 30, 2019.  The independent audit discovered that DPI financial statements contained significant misstatements and omissions. DPI “concurs with the Auditor’s finding and recommendation,” and wrote…