Legislative Update for May 30, 2022

Legislators officially kicked off the 2022 short session last week on May 24th. Reports have told us that they will be returning with a large surplus of money that totals over $6 billion, and more is predicted for next year. Additional revenue streams are always positive news, and PENC will be advocating for additional pay raises along with more support for our classrooms. We will be reporting back periodically with news from Raleigh. We will leave you with two important updates on items of interest.

Meeting with the Governor's Education Team to Discuss the PEPSC Proposal

Since PEPSC released their first round of recommendations for teacher licensure, we have been hearing many concerns from our PENC members. Please know that PENC has many questions about these early proposals, and we feel this plan will create more problems than solutions for public education. On Friday, May 13th, PENC met with the governor’s education team to express our many concerns. We appreciate the time the governor’s staff gave us and feel they heard our concerns loud and clear. In summary, we believe the PEPSC proposal has a very difficult road ahead, and please know that the legislature would have to enact it to make it law for North Carolina. We will keep you posted on developments.

House Select Committee on an Education System for North Carolina’s Future

This select committee ended their interim meetings talking about the most prominent issue, teacher compensation and benefits. The committee did not make a hard proposal but presented some broad ideas for consideration. To see the document used in the committee, click here. We will continue to monitor this committee and report any major recommendations.