Airs Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m.
Teacher salaries have plummeted to 42nd in the nation, contributing to teacher turnover, shortages and low morale, all of which hurts our schools, our students and our state.
The new WRAL Documentary “Grading Teacher Pay” examines this important social and economic issue from all sides. The documentary, hosted by WRAL News anchor Renee Chou, airs Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m. Multimedia education reporter Kelly Hinchcliffe analyzes the last 15 years in a special section on WRAL.com.
Former N.C. Governor Jim Hunt worked with Republicans and Democrats in the 1990s to raise the average salary for public school teachers to the national average in an effort to attract and retain good teachers. North Carolina was once 19th in the nation for teacher pay.
“We’ve always been up near the tops in the South, and yet now we’re below all the states around us,” said Hunt.
Through interviews with Hunt, plus North Carolina teachers and policymakers, Grading Teacher Pay examines the relationship of low teacher pay to educational quality and the debate over how much N.C.’s public school teachers should be paid.
Statewide Broadcast Schedule
- WRAL-TV/Raleigh – Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m.
- WILM-TV/Wilmington – Tuesday, April 26 at 7 p.m.
- WRAZ-TV/Durham – Saturday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m.
Watch a preview of the documentary: Behind the Doc: Grading Teacher Pay
The documentary will also be available for on-demand viewing any time after the premiere television broadcast on April 26.
On twitter, follow @WRALDoc and #NCTeacherPay.
Interactive, online analysis:
Beginning at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, April 26, go to WRAL.com and search keywords “teacher pay” to see exactly how N.C.’s teacher pay stacks up against other states and how that has changed in the past 15 years.
WRAL Documentary is one of the only dedicated documentary units in local TV. Its mission is to provide in-depth coverage of topics and issues relevant to North Carolinians.
Thanks to WRAL-TV’s Debbie Tullos for this capcom story.