PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION William W. Cobey Jr.. Chairman

WV. NC PUB LIC SC HOO LS.ORG

October 5, 2017

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly
16 W. Jones Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27601

Dear Members of the North Carolina General Assembly,

We greatly appreciate the time and ?nancial resources the General Assembly invested in principal
pay this session. The infusion of over $40 million in State appropriations in the Principal and
Assistant Principal pay plan in the 2017-2019 budget is a signi?cant step forward on school
administrator pay.

While many principals received signi?cant pay increases through the new plan, the implementation
of the legislation has revealed a few challenges. Unfortunately, this is creating uncertainty of the
future of many excellent principals and unfortunately the media is portraying the pay plan to be
problematic overall.

Signi?cant progress was achieved through the technical correction in Senate Bill 582 that addresses
those principals paid on the teacher?s salary schedule. From all information we have, we can now
state with con?dence that no principal will lose pay under the new plan this year and many will
receive substantial increases. However, in a time when the talent pipeline for teachers and school
administrators cannot keep up with the demand, and when some of our highly talented principals
stand to lose an average of over $8,000 in pay, we respectfully request that you extend the ?hold
harmless? provision for all principals through ?scal year 2018-2019.

Given that some principal contracts require six months? advance notice by those who do not
plan to renew their contract, we request this extension be granted in the General Assembly
Session this week or, at the latest, during the next Session. This will provide principals with
the con?dence that their pay will not decrease when making career decisions in the coming
months and will also allow the General Assembly the opportunity to fully evaluate and further
re?ne the plan in the short session.

I
William W. Cobey,.lr.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
William W. Cobey Jr., Chairman 
6302 Mail Service Center, Raleigh. North Carolina 27699-6302 (919) 807-340I Fax (919) 802-3198
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