Teachers and other school officials in North Carolina are expected to receive a variety of bonuses and salary increases as a result of the state budget which was adopted last month.

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

“That’s an average of 2.5%, so some may see higher amounts based on years of service than others,” said Terry Dudney, financial director of Stanly County Schools.

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

Non-certified staff will receive either the 2.5% increase or minimum wage of $ 13 / hour in 2021-2022 and the 2.5% increase or minimum wage of $ 15 / hour in 2022-2023.

In terms of bonuses, most teachers could receive up to $ 2,800 from the state, which is due out by the end of January:

• Bonus of $ 1,500 for government employees employed on December 1 with salaries below $ 75,000. Any school employee whose salary is over $ 75,000 will receive a bonus of $ 1,000.
• One-time flat-rate bonus of $ 1,000 to teachers and pedagogical support staff employed on January 1, 2022 and who have participated in one or more training courses between March 2020 and January 1, 2022, which cover COVID-19 mitigation strategies, virtual education, or loss of learning.

• $ 300 to all teachers employed on January 1, 2022, instead of a performance bonus.

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

Directors employed on January 1 will receive a one-time lump sum bonus of $ 1,800.

“Staff will start seeing huge sums of money coming in in January,” Dudney said at the school board meeting last week.

Using existing ESSER funds, Stanly County schools are also working on their own retention bonus to be given to all teachers and classified staff, Dudney said, although it may take a few weeks for the district to receive approval. of State.

“If it’s approved the way we wrote it, it could reach $ 2,000 in the next calendar year,” Dudney said.