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December 13, 2025

[1]www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org
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North Carolina's School Funding Rankings Drop Again

The Education Law Center’s Making the Grade 2025 report released on
Wednesday highlights North Carolina’s continued neglect of public schools.
North Carolina ranks 50th of 51 states (DC is included) for education
funding. Only Idaho is worse. The report’s data is from the 2022-23 school
year, so the rankings don't yet account for stagnant spending over the past
two years.

Making the Grade ranks states in three areas: funding level, funding
distribution, and funding effort.

Funding Level (NC Grade F; Rank = 50 out of 51). Funding level is
determined by dividing combined state and local revenue for PK-12 education
by student enrollment and adjusting to account for regional variation in
labor market costs. In other words, the rankings account for the fact that
some states are more expensive to live and work in than others.

North Carolina spent $5,660 per student less than the national average in
2022-23 ($12,193 in NC compared to the $17,853 national average). This is a
drop from the previous year when NC spent $12,252 per student and ranked
48th worst in funding level.

Funding Distribution (NC Grade C; Rank = 17 out of 48). Funding
distribution describes the relationship between district-level, per-pupil
funding and student poverty in each state. In other words, to what extent
does education funding help offset some of the inequities created by
different levels of poverty in communities across the state? This is a drop
from last year’s report which gave NC a B and a rank of 12. So while NC
spends very little money on education compared to other states, NC
distributes its few dollars more equitably than the majority of states.

Funding Effort (NC Grade F; Rank = 50 out of 50). Funding effort ranks
states on effort measured as PK-12 spending as a percentage of the state’s
economic strength—gross domestic product (GDP). Like funding level, the
effort calculation includes both state and local funding. North Carolina
ranks lower than all other states, dropping from the already abysmal 49 in
last year’s report.

The legislature’s continued failure to adequately fund our public schools
should be an embarrassment to all lawmakers standing in the way of a budget
that includes major increases for public education.

[7]Read Making the Grade 2025

NC Teacher Salaries Drop 20.6% in 20 Years

The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, has also been focusing on
school spending trends. Like Making the Grade, Reason Foundation’s [8]K-12
Education Spending Spotlight identifies North Carolina's poor education
funding as compared to other states.

Reason Foundation researchers used data from the US Census Bureau and the
National Center for Education Statistics for years 2002 through 2023 to
show pre- and post-pandemic trends and identify key areas of interest for
lawmakers and policymakers.

To compare apples to apples, the researchers used inflation-adjusted (to
2023) spending and salary values. For example, to calculate salary trends,
they adjusted the 2002 teacher salaries by the amount of inflation from
2002 to 2023 to determine what the 2002 salary would be if it had simply
kept up with inflation (i.e., had the same spending power).

Researchers found that nationwide, average teacher salaries declined 6.1%
between 2002 and 2022. However, 5.6% of the drop came after 2020. Prior to
the pandemic, average national salaries were mostly flat, growing by -0.6%.

North Carolina’s teacher salaries showed a much stronger downward trend
than nearly every state. Between 2002 and 2022, average salaries fell by
20.6% (i.e., grew -20.6%).

In 2002, teachers in North Carolina made the equivalent of $71,783 (in 2023
dollars). In 2022, their average salary was $56,997. That’s essentially a
$14,786 salary cut.

North Carolina ranks 48th out of 50 states in the percent growth in teacher
salaries since 2002. Only Michigan's and Indiana’s teacher salaries grew
less—by -21.8% and -22.6% respectively. But because salaries in both states
started higher, their teachers ended up with higher average salaries in
2022 than North Carolina’s teachers.

Researchers also found that every state had increased spending on public
education, with 2002 through 2023 increases ranging from 78.6% in
California to 7.1% in Indiana. North Carolina’s education spending increase
was the third lowest at 8.5%.

Public school enrollment grew in 29 states (including North Carolina) from
2002 to 2023, but fell in 39 states after the pandemic. North Carolina’s
public school enrollment followed this pattern. Before the pandemic, from
2002 to 2020, North Carolina’s public school enrollment grew more than 18%
and after the pandemic (from 2020 to 2023) dropped 1.2%, leaving the total
growth at 17.2% from 2002 - 2023.

Note that North Carolina’s public education spending grew by just 8.5% from
2002 to 2023 while student enrollment grew by 17.2% during the same years.

Researchers also found that nationwide, public school funding is
increasingly spent on employee benefits—including teacher pensions and
health insurance—and less on employee salaries. They found that for every
new $1.00 that public schools spent on employee salaries between 2002 and
2023, benefit expenditures rose by $3.27. The main driver of the rising
benefit spending was pension debt. For years, states have failed to set
aside enough money to cover future pension costs, so now there isn’t enough
money in pension funds to pay benefits owed to employees who are retiring.
States are cutting into current funds to cover pension costs.

Reason Foundation’s spotlight report provides more evidence of what North
Carolinians already know: Legislators have been shortchanging public
schools for years. Their data, along with Making the Grade and numerous
other reports, shine a spotlight on how poorly our current state lawmakers
are meeting their constitutional obligation to fund public schools.

[9]Read Reason Foundation's Report

Where Is Leandro?

It has been nearly two years since the latest oral arguments in the Leandro
case and the NC Supreme Court has still not released a ruling. If our state
legislature were fully funding public schools and providing a sound basic
education to all students, then the case wouldn’t carry such high stakes.
But a decade of intentional underfunding by our legislature in clear
defiance of the state constitution means the stakes for schools are
extremely high.

If the current NC Supreme Court does not require our legislators to meet
their constitutional obligation to our children, the promise of a sound
basic education will remain an empty one for another generation. Our
children deserve better!

Legislators have continued to refuse to fund public schools according to
the 2021 [10]Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan ($5.5 billion over 8
years), while funding private school tuition vouchers for even the
wealthiest families ($5.3 billion by 2029-30).

Deliberate actions by the legislature have left our public schools severely
underfunded. At the same time, legislators have overfunded private schools
through the voucher program.

The Leandro case is a three-decade battle for North Carolina’s public
schools to receive adequate funding from the state legislature. It was
launched in 1994 and centers on every child’s constitutional right to a
"sound basic education," as defined in [11]Article IX, Section 2 of the NC
Constitution.

The case addresses three core legal questions:

1) Do our children have a constitutional right preserved in the NC
Constitution to a sound basic education

2) Has there been a constitutional violation of this right, and

3) If yes to question 1 and 2, is there a remedy to repair this
constitutional violation?

These questions were answered YES by the NC Supreme Court Justices three
times during the last 30 years.

In the final ruling—November 4, 2022—the NC Supreme Court ruled that the
remedy (#3) was outlined in the Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan and
ordered the legislature to fund it.

In the 2022 election, the makeup of the NC Supreme Court changed to
majority Republican. Legislative leaders Senator Berger and Representative
Moore decided to fight the Leandro ruling and refused to allocate funding
according to the Remedial Plan. The new Supreme Court majority agreed to
hear the case in February 2022. Our children are still waiting for their
decision.

[12]READ MORE ABOUT LEANDRO

Where is the State Budget?

Legislative and SBE Updates

The NC General Assembly returns to Raleigh on Monday, December 15. House
and Senate leaders have said that the session will be a non-voting session,
so no veto overrides or budget movement are expected. NC will end 2025 with
no state budget.

FISCAL IMPACT: Due to the stalled budget negotiations, the House was unable
to stop the automatic tax cuts (supported by Senate leaders) that go into
effect on January 1, 2026. As a result, the individual income tax rate will
drop from 4.25% to 3.99% and the corporate income tax rate will drop from
2.25% to 2% pushing NC closer to the [13]forewarned "financial cliff" where
the state cannot pay for the services North Carolinians need including
adequate funding for Medicaid and our public schools.

The [14]House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform met Dec. 10 to
question the superintendent and school board chair of Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Schools about whether the district is complying with SB 49 (The Parents
Bill of Rights). The district leaders stated that they were complying with
the law, but the meeting got heated as some lawmakers expressed outrage at
books they said had been promoted by the district (denied by district
representatives).

Rep. Quick and Rep. Cervania made the following statement after the meeting
pointing out that lawmakers have more pressing issues to address:

“perhaps the majority should follow the Leandro court order, fully fund
education in NC, stop starving rural school districts of funding, teachers,
and capital improvements, and scrap the disastrous and bloated school
voucher welfare program that shuffles money to the wealthiest members of
our community.” [15]READ MORE (NC Newsline)

[16][17]NC legislators grill Chapel Hill school officials on 'Parents'
Bill of Rights' compliance (WRAL)

Federal Voucher Comment Portal is Open

The federal voucher program signed into law in July (H.R.1) is not
mandatory. States must actively choose to participate, and many are waiting
to find out more about the program to decide whether to do so. (See our
[18]fact sheet on federal vouchers)

The US Treasury and IRS are [19]seeking input into the policies being
developed for the program. This is your chance to voice an opinion on how
the federal voucher program should be implemented!

For example, to make sure the program has maximum transparency, regulations
could require the Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) to publish a
list of donors as well as a list of all scholarship/voucher recipients.
Regulations could ensure that the voucher funds are only spent on tuition
at schools that are open to all students and follow all state and federal
non-discrimination laws.

[20]Access the comment portal here.

The NC Supreme Court's Inexplicable,

Historic Silence on Leandro

By Gene Nichol, professor of law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill

Here’s one of the oddest things I’ve seen in 50 years of court watching.
When our realigned, politicized state Supreme Court came into office a
couple of years ago, as The Assembly reports: “It took the new Republican
majority only 30 days to grant (an) unusual request” from lawmakers to
reconsider a landmark ruling in the Leandro case. The justices rushed to
oral argument on February 22, 2024. “But 601 days later, they have yet to
issue a decision.” Now it’s over 650 days of silence. I’ve never seen
anything like it. No one has.

To be honest, I’m not anxious to hear from Paul Newby and his court.
They’re no friends to the low-income students of North Carolina. They’re no
friends to the North Carolina Constitution. They are Republican retainers
– first, last and only. But they may be having a tough time deciding what
kind of damage to inflict on the public schools.

Leandro v. North Carolina has been with us since 1994. Judge Howard Manning
dedicated one of the state’s greatest legal careers to its enforcement.
Judge David Lee, his successor, concluded, stunningly, that “the state is
now further away from meeting its constitutional obligation to provide
every child with the opportunity for a sound basic education than when the
Leandro decision” was handed down. “Over a quarter of students in North
Carolina attend 843 high poverty schools – (their) equal opportunity is
compromised,” Lee said.

Constitutional language can be a nuisance for enemies of Leandro.

[21]READ MORE

Mark Your Calendar - Wednesdays for Ed!

Join Public Schools First NC and other public education supporters at the
Legislative Building in downtown Raleigh on the second Wednesday of each
month until the legislative short session starts in April.

Our schools needs a budget and the Leandro dollars the court has ordered!
Help us remind our legislators! Meet us in front of the Legislative
Building to advocate for our public schools!

11 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

State Legislative Building at 140 E Jones Street, Raleigh
* January 14
* February 11
* March 11
* April 8

Fill out [22]this Google Form to let us know to expect you at the
legislature on Wednesdays!

In Case You Missed It

[23]NC Treasurer Briner: Expect more benefit changes, premium hikes for
State Employee Health Plan

[24]Education leaders have long struggled with NC's school letter grades.
That system could soon change

[25]State charter oversight board closes down second school this semester

[26]More cuts, difficult decisions' likely in next Wake Schools budget

[27]Resisting ICE in Many Cities - From Charlotte to New Orleans to
Minneapolis - Means Keeping Kids in School

[28]Will federal tax-credit scholarships help public school students?

[29]Education Department distributes more than $208M in new mental health
grants

Did You Know?

The majority of funding for our public schools comes from the state
government (60% - 65%) while about 25% comes from local government and 12%
- 15% usually comes from the federal government.

Watch [30]our video on public education funding to learn more.

Check Out Our New Advocacy Toolkit!

Public Schools First NC has just released a new advocacy toolkit! Click
through the slide deck to find information and tips on how to be an
effective K-12 public education advocate. The toolkit is divided into three
sections: Learn the Facts, Engage & Take Action, and Connect & Share. Each
section walks you through key steps on the advocacy journey.

We have also developed two topic-specific toolkits found directly below the
advocacy toolkit slide deck:
* Private School Voucher Toolkit
* Stop the Attacks on Students with Disabilities Toolkit

[31]Check out the advocacy tools!

Mark Your Calendar!

Multiple Dates, 7:00-8:30 pm: Resilience and ACES. Learn about Adverse
Childhood Experiences (ACES) and resilience. Join us for this
award-winning, 60-minute film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress & The
Science of Hope. This documentary examines how abuse, neglect, and other
adverse childhood experiences affect children’s development & health
outcomes in adulthood. This powerful movie is a conversation starter and a
perspective changer.

[32]REGISTER HERE

All screenings are on Thursday and include time for discussion. Invite a
friend and contact us about setting up a private screening for your school
staff, PTA, civic group, church, or synagogue.
* January 22, 2026
* February 26, 2026
* March 26, 2026

Words to Remember

"If our Court cannot or will not enforce state constitutional rights, those
rights do not exist, the constitution is not worth the paper it is written
on, and our oath...is a meaningless charade."

— Anita Earls, NC Supreme Court Justice in her 2023 dissent on the Court's
decision to revisit Leandro

Help us support public schools!

Public Schools First NC is a statewide nonpartisan, 501(c)(3) nonprofit
focused solely

on pre-K to 12 public education issues. We collaborate with parents,
teachers, business and civic leaders, and communities across North Carolina
to advocate for one unified system of public education that prepares each
child for productive citizenship.

[33]DONATE HERE

[34]www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org

Questions? Contact us today at [email protected]

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