During the Sampson County Schools portion of a county budget meeting with commissioners Monday afternoon, schools Superintendent Dr. Jamie King emphasized the importance of North Carolina’s state budget as it pertains to education.

Commissioners met with local school officials for the final leg of their budget workshops Monday afternoon, hearing their comments and concerns as they work to develop a county budget for 2026-27. During the county schools portion of the meeting, King primarily focused on the state’s fiscal plan and its impact on local schools.

County funding wasn’t the focus because of a formula county commissioners approved last year based on a 25 percent revenue share between the two public school systems, one automatically distributed to the county and city schools each year.

In his discussion, King shared concerns about salaries for school employees. According to the superintendent, if the state government decides to increase salaries for school employees, the current recommended budget the commissioners have made for the schools does not account for this.

“Our big concern, Dr. Johnson talked about this as well, but the state budget,” said King. ” Our big concern comes when that state budget is passed and what will be the increase in salaries. We have a number of maintenance staff. We have some teachers, very few, who are paid out of local funds. When the state increases salaries for employees, it increases it for every employee. So, I had a slight concern that if the state does a five and a half percent increase, there’s not a five and a half percent increase on your budget to us to help us pay for those increases.”

Budget talks in the state have been ongoing for some time, with North Carolina lawmakers remaining at odds over various elements of the budget. However, this past week, that changed when legislators addressed several issues that have been the cause of budget arguments. In these talks, lawmakers have proposed an eight percent increase in teacher pay for the next school year.

This would mean that starting teachers would begin at $4,800 per month, up from the current rate of around $4,100 per month. More experienced teachers would be paid around $5,600 per month for 15 years of experience, up to about $5,900 per month for 25 years of experience.

Teacher pay has been a hot-button topic in the state in recent months, with several teachers protesting North Carolina’s teacher pay rates in Raleigh last month. For the 2024-25 school year, North Carolina’s average teacher salary ranked 43rd in the nation for the second year in a row, according to data from the National Education Association, coming in at about $60,323 a year. According to this report, the average teacher pay per in the nation was $74,495, meaning teachers in the state earned around $14,000 below the national average in 2024-25.

Although state legislators have proposed an eight percent increase, the North Carolina Association of Educators, which organized the rally in Raleigh, is asking for a 25 percent pay raise across the board and a funding investment of $20,000 per student by 2030.

At the Monday night meeting, Sampson County Board of Commissioners chair Allen McLamb acknowledged King’s concerns and stated that they would work together to figure out a solution for the budget and potential employee salaries for next year.

“We’ll get to the increase, we’ll figure something out. We always have. I’m just ready to see the state budget and be able to look at it. Then, we’ll get this squared away,” said McLamb.