Teachers and other school officials across North Carolina are slated to receive a variety of bonuses and pay raises as a result of the state budget which was passed last month.

Public school teachers, instructional support personnel and central office staff will receive an average salary increase of 2.5 percent for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.

“It’s an average of 2.5 percent so some may see greater amounts based on years of service than others,” Stanly County Schools Chief Finance Officer Terry Dudney said.

The raises come in January, he said, but employees and teachers can also expect a lump sum check then to make the raises retroactive to the July 1, 2021, start of the state’s fiscal year.

Non-certified personnel will receive either the 2.5 percent increase or $13/hour minimum wage in 2021-22 and the 2.5 percent increase or $15/hour minimum wage in 2022-23.

In terms of bonuses, most teachers could receive up to $2,800 from the state, which must be distributed by the end of January:

• $1,500 premium bonus for state employees employed as of Dec. 1 with salaries below $75,000. Any school employees with salaries above $75,000 will receive a $1,000 bonus.
• $1,000 one-time, lump sum bonus to teachers and instructional support personnel employed as of Jan. 1, 2022 and who have participated in one or more trainings between March 2020 and January 1, 2022, that cover COVID-19 mitigation strategies, virtual instruction, or learning loss.

• $300 to all teachers employed as of Jan. 1, 2022, provided in lieu of a performance bonus.

For teachers hired after July 1 of this year and still employed as of Oct. 1, they could receive an additional $1,000 as part of a low wealth county signing bonus, bringing their total to as much as $3,800.

Principals employed as of Jan. 1 will receive a one-time lump bonus of $1,800.

“Staff will start seeing in January some enormous amounts of money coming their way,” Dudney said during last week’s school board meeting.

Through existing ESSER funds, Stanly County Schools is also working on its own retention bonus to give to all teachers and classified staff, Dudney said, though it might take a few weeks for the district to receive approval from the state.

“If it’s approved the way we wrote it, then it could be as much as $2,000 within the next calendar year,” Dudney said.