RALEIGH - North Carolina's teacher salaries rank 46th in the nation, and state school superintendent June Atkinson recently commented that this low pay could soon lead to a teacher shortage.

Dr. Terry Stoops with the John Locke Foundation says that a merit pay system would benefit teachers, and that one could be on the horizon. “There is some movement towards providing some sort of merit-based system. The General Assembly has some plans in mind and some ways to provide funding for that but we’re still in the waiting stages to see if that legislation passes.” He says that paying teachers based on performance is a much better alternative to the across-the-board raises that North Carolina has implemented for decades.

Dr. Stoops also says that the idea that school teachers be exempted from paying state income tax will not gain any momentum. “Both those on the left and the right have dismissed this idea as not only unworkable in the sense that teachers, as well as many other public employees, would probably enjoy that sort of relief, but it may not comply with current law, it might not be constitutional.”