Teachers deserve to be paid like the professionals they are, and Governor Cooper has fought tirelessly to raise teacher pay. Each year in office, Governor Cooper proposed a state budget that would give North Carolina’s public schools the funding they need and provide meaningful raises for teachers and school officials. Governor Cooper proposed budgets and plans that would have made North Carolina first in the Southeast for teacher pay. Throughout the Governor’s time in office, the state raised average teacher pay by over 19%.

• Diversity at the front of the classroom improves student success across the board. Governor Cooper created the Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE) Task Force resulting in recommendations and an action plan to increase the racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of North Carolina’s educator workforce.
• Under the Governor’s leadership, the Teaching Fellows program was expanded to three additional campuses including two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

• Announced a historic investment in North Carolina’s early care and learning child care programs to keep child care centers open and improve early childhood teacher pay. A total of $1.1 billion in child care stabilization grants has gone to child care programs across 99 counties in North Carolina. Grant recipients used the funds to boost teacher pay, mental health support, payments for rent, mortgage, utilities, facility maintenance or insurance, equipment and supplies and goods or services necessary to maintain child care.  More funding is needed in the coming years to keep these essential businesses operating.
• Directed $8 million in federal funding to all NC Pre-K classrooms to help address classroom needs.
• Reauthorized the state’s Early Childhood Advisory Council to convene experts from a wide range of fields that contribute to young children’s healthy development, education and well-being.

• Governor Cooper launched the Longleaf Commitment program, a $25.5 million investment to guarantee that 2021 graduating high school seniors from low- and middle-income families received at least $2,800 in federal and state grants to cover tuition and most fees at any of the state’s 58 community colleges. In November 2021, the Governor signed the bipartisan state budget into law which expanded the Longleaf Commitment Program to include 2022 high school graduates. To date, more than 27,400 students have received a Longleaf Commitment Grant totaling over $25.5 million. 77% of the grants have gone to students with family incomes less than $60,000.
• The Governor launched the Finish Line Grants program to help community college students who face unforeseen financial emergencies complete their training. More than $7.5 million in Finish Line Grants have helped thousands of community college students complete their training and prepare to enter the workforce. Finish Line Grants have helped students pay for course materials, housing, medical needs, dependent care, and other financial emergencies that students faced through no fault of their own.
• Governor Cooper directed $20 million to create Workforce Resilience Grants for eligible community college students pursuing high-demand workforce training programs within ten workforce pathways leading to a state or industry recognized credential, including in advanced manufacturing, automotive, IT, construction and education. To date, more than 22,500 students across the state have received Workforce Resilience Grants.
• The Governor announced a $23.7 million investment to create STEPs4GROWTH, a clean energy workforce training program at NC A&T that will start in high school and continue through college. He also announced that North Carolina was selected as a partner in the EVeryone Charging Forward program, receiving $1.6 million in EV career pathway funding.