State approves bonus cuts for teachers

 The superintendent of Craven County schools said he was disheartened Thursday by the State Board of Education's decision to cut the amount teachers will receive this year for performance bonuses.

Superintendent Larry Moser said he had wondered how the state would have enough money to pay teachers when early test scores showed more schools meeting growth standards than last year. Moser said early results show two-thirds of Craven schools making high growth.

The state approved a plan Thursday to give teachers $1,053 if their students exceeded expectations, instead of the usual $1,500. Teachers whose students met expectations will receive $527, instead of the usual $750.

"Teachers aren't compensated enough as it is, as well as teacher assistants," Moser said. "It certainly does not help morale when teachers work so hard to meet a performance standard and they're not compensated."

Teachers will return to the classrooms Aug. 18 in Craven, Jones and Pamlico counties. School begins Aug. 25.

Moser said at least 60 percent of the students in a school must meet expected state growth standards for the whole school to have exemplary growth. He said teacher assistants usually receive $500 bonuses for exemplary and $375 for expected growth.

"It sounds like it's not going to happen this year, and it is disheartening to know that their stated ABC bonuses aren't going to come through," Moser said. "We'll just have to stay tuned."

State Board of Education members said bonus cuts were necessary because the General Assembly budgeted only $94 million this year for bonuses. Howard Lee, the board chairman, said the bonus cuts are unfortunate. But Lee said the state is in a financial crunch.

Pamlico County schools are in a financial crunch, too. State funding is decreasing because of a decrease in enrollment, said Steve Curtis, the director of finance and auxiliary services. Pamlico will lose a percentage of its low-wealth funding, money the state gives to rural counties, this year.

"All along, until the final hour, we were thinking they would never cut ABC bonuses," Curtis said. "They've never done it before that I know of. The teachers obviously love what they're doing, but it's nice to see that ABC performance check in the mail in August or September, whenever we can get them out."

Curtis said he and Superintendent Rick Sherrill have not had conversations about making up for the state bonus cuts with local funding. But Curtis said he believes the Pamlico County Board of Education will talk about the cuts at its next regular meeting in September.