teacher pay

Last evening my son and I attended a forum at Culbreth Middle School about teacher pay. There were a number of panels. First teachers spoke (including one of my son's teachers from Carrboro High School). They shared stories about how hard it was to make it on teacher pay especially since their salaries have been frozen at the same pay scale step since 2007. State statistics show that an unusually high number of teachers are leaving for other states or are quitting the profession. High school and middle school students talked about their teachers and how sad it was that many of their teachers have decided to leave.  Aaron Nelson spoke for the local business community. He mentioned the positive impact a good school system has on the economy and that they support paying more for education. Finally the local superintendent, 3 state reps and 1 state senator spoke about the budgets and politics. A pleasant surprise was that one rep was a Republican from Guilford/ Greensboro who supports increased pay for all teachers.