Houston school district aiming to recruit North Carolina’s teachers
North Carolina teachers struggling with low salaries and repeated pay freezes are being lured from the state with an appealing offer: For a substantial raise, come teach in Texas.
The Houston Independent School District held a job recruitment fair in uptown Charlotte on Friday, offering higher pay and benefits to teachers whose salaries are among the lowest in the nation. District representatives at the four-hour event were prepared to interview and make job offers to instructors certified in any of four “critical shortage areas”: secondary math, secondary science, bilingual education and special education.
The Friday event capped off a week of recruiting in North Carolina, following similar events held in Greensboro and Raleigh.
With debate still swirling in the General Assembly over their pay raises for next year and no budget finalized, teachers say the Houston offer – a $49,100 starting salary – is enticing, particularly for younger ones willing to move.
“We’re all in teaching because of the students – that’s why we do what we do,” said Beth Linkston, a teacher at Olympic High who did not attend the fair. “But when you can do the exact same thing, still change lives and still make a difference in the world but make $20,000 more a year, you’re going to go.”
The average starting salary for a North Carolina teacher is $30,778, more than $5,000 below the national average and lower than all neighboring states. It’s a result of five years of pay freezes that let the state slip to 46th highest in the U.S. for 2012-13, according to the National Education Association. The ranking is projected to slip to 48th for 2013-14.
But as recently as 2008, North Carolina was ranked 25th in the nation for average teacher salaryHouston school district aiming to recruit North Carolina’s teachers | CharlotteObserver.com: