After several months of uncertainty about how the General Assembly would fund public education during its short session this year, area school systems are seeing the results of those legislative budget decisions.

One of the early consequences, say officials in Brunswick and New Hanover county school districts, is a higher-than-average number of teacher resignations and retirements. One Brunswick County Schools official termed the district’s attrition a “mass exodus,” but district spokeswoman Jessica Swencki said that it would be more accurate to say that the number is higher than usual.

“For the year, we’ve had 181 teacher resignations,” she said. “The norm is an average of 10 per month, with most coming during the summer, which is a time of mobility. They get other offers, or their spouse gets another job that requires a move.”

Tim Markley, superintendent of New Hanover County Schools, said the number of teacher resignations and retirements in his district was “definitely above average.” And the timing of many departures was atypical.

“Those resignations and retirements came later in summer than they normally do, and it seems that some people waited to see the new pay scale [approved by the General Assembly] before they decided what to do," he said.

The legislature’s approved budget offers an average raise of 7 percent raise for teachers, but Markley points out that the average is not a very useful number. In his blog, he said the raises are heavily weighted at the front end of the pay scale.

Newer teachers are getting as much as an 18 percent raise, while some veteran teachers are getting a less than one percent pay increase, he clarified in an interview.

“Those at the upper end of the scale received very little," he wrote in his blog. "These veteran teachers are often the teacher leaders in their schools and are a critical component of student success.”

He believes that some veteran teachers decided to retire because the new pay scale left them feeling undervalued.

And while teachers with advanced degrees will continue to receive extra pay, teachers who have not yet begun work on a master’s degree will not receive supplemental pay for that degree, Markley said.

Apart from retirements, districts have no firm data on the plans of teachers who left their jobs. But both Markley and Swencki mentioned the higher salaries available to teachers over the border in South Carolina.

“Horry County is right over the line. By taking a 20-minute ride, our teachers can make $10,000 to $12,000 more a year in Horry County,” Swencki said.

She explained that, unlike North Carolina, whose constitution requires the state to be responsible for public education, South Carolina’s constitution allows each county to formulate its own salary structure and pay scale.

In an interview and on his blog, Markley outlined the main points of the state’s new K-12 education budget.

Previously, teachers climbed a step on the pay scale each year, even during years of salary freezes. Now that scale has been replaced with six levels, or “bands,” as Swencki called them. While there are some pay increases built into each band, the six-level scale means that the possibility of annual raises reflecting each year of experience no longer exist.

South Carolina, however, does give annual raises, Markley said.

The issue of teacher assistants is cloudy, with Markley writing, “The spin around this issue is another example of political gamesmanship. The official announcement is that no teacher assistant positions were cut. What was not announced is that a large portion of this funding was in the form of non-recurring dollars. Non-recurring dollars are one time monies that cannot be budgeted going forward.”

Swencki said that Brunswick County Schools is losing 25 positions this year, positions that are funded with local or federal monies. She explained that the district would need to give these teachers the same percentage raise that their state-funded counterparts are getting, but since those raises would come from the district purse, the district has decided it cannot afford that extra expense and will funnel those available funds to reducing class size.

Markley's blog stated that the state is moving in this direction as well.

“Much of the teacher assistants fund was moved to the reduce class size teacher allotment, which forced many districts to choose between teachers and teacher assistants. We will not cut teacher assistant positions this year, but we will have to fight this all over again next year when the budget process begins for 2015-16,” he said.

Non-teacher school employees received a raise that is half the amount of their counterparts in other parts of state government, Markley said.

“They received a raise of $500 for the year compared to a $1000 for other state employees," he said, adding that the message those staffers are hearing from the legislature is that their work is less valued than that of other state employees.

Despite delayed decisions, uncertainties and underfunding in some areas, Swencki said that her school district is seeing an overall positive outcome from the budget.

“We appreciate the General Assembly hearing teachers’ outcry for a living wage, and hope to see continued movement in that direction,” she said. “The General Assembly also heard we were losing teachers early-on. “Everyone will receive benefit from the new budget but attention is focused on first 12-15 years of a teacher’s career.”

Swencki added that the district’s board is looking at how to use its local supplement, which can be used to add to the state-mandated level of teacher salaries.

“We’re setting aside some money in anticipation of larger increases [later],” she said. “We’re looking at what can be done to stay competitive with our neighboring counties in North Carolina.”

Pender County school officials said they would respond with information about their district, but had not done so by press time.