Harnett Dispatch

 Lillington,NC.

A small but compassionate group gathered today in front of the Harnett County Courthouse to express their concern over NC teachers’ pay. Local elected officials and community leaders who were on hand to give their support included County Commissioner Gary House, Candidate for NC House Susan Byerly, County Commissioner candidate Steve Blackburn and Senate candidate Joe Langley. The group Aim Higher NC orchestrated the demonstration and said that the petition movement began after former state Governor Jim Hunt wrote an op-ed piece for the News & Observer, writing lawmakers, “we owe them a fair salary and we owe it to their students.”

Aim Higher NC members said this should be done, but not at the expense of teacher assistants, and not by gambling on lottery funds to come up with money. Both are proposals that have been hit the House and Senate floor, as Governor Pat McCrory aims to implement a tiered system to raise teacher salaries, called “Career Pathways for Teachers.”

“When people really strip the bark off what they want to do, it’s really ugly,” said Gerrick Brenner, Executive Director for the nonprofit advocacy group, Progress NC.

Brenner said tax cuts have to be a part of the public education conversation.

“Tax reform must be revenue neutral,” he said. “Who benefits from the tax cuts? People at the top. Who pays for the tax cuts? It has to be public schools, because so much of our state budget is public education.”

Aim Higher NC will deliver the signatures to the state legislature on Thursday morning.