South By North Strategies, Ltd.

From the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center’s “back to school” guide to school funding in the Tar Heel State …

As for the number of jobs in North Carolina’s schools, there are thousands fewer now than before the Great Recession, and the loss of school jobs continues as budget cuts deepen and persist. As of FY2011-12, there were 11,833 fewer school personnel in North Carolina than there were in the last school year before the Great Recession (FY2007-08). Claims made in this year’s legislative session that the FY2011-12 state budget added 2,000 teacher jobs didn’t hold up under scrutiny, and it appears likely that misunderstanding and misinformation about school employment and its direct relationship to budget decisions will continue to thrive through this election season and beyond.