Teachers at Ardrey Kell, Ballantyne Ridge and other Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools started the 2026-27 school year Tuesday, Aug. 25, with what Gov. Josh Stein called the largest state pay raises for educators in 20 years.

Beginning teachers in North Carolina now earn a base salary of $48,000, up 17% from $41,000 last year, according to the Charlotte Observer's updated salary database. Veteran teachers received a more modest state increase of about 5.5%. On top of that, CMS boosted its Mecklenburg County supplement by 5% across the board. That supplement ranges from about $8,000 to $14,000 per teacher annually.

The result: median teacher pay in CMS rose to more than $66,000 this year, up from about $62,900 last year.

Stein signed the state budget into law Tuesday, July 7. It was North Carolina's first full budget in more than two years, after Republican lawmakers spent over a year disagreeing on income tax cuts and teacher raises. The budget moved the state's national ranking for teacher pay from 47th to 40th, according to NC Newsline.

"I see this budget as a launching pad, not a landing spot," Stein said Tuesday, Aug. 25, at Conn Magnet Elementary School in Raleigh, as EdNC reported.

More than two dozen CMS teachers saw raises exceeding 25%, with some jumping 50% to 70%, according to the Observer's analysis. Principals and assistant principals also received increases. Bus drivers' median hourly wage rose to $22.46, and custodians' median rose to $21.01.

Most other school employees received a 3% raise plus a bonus of $1,750 for those earning under $65,000 or $1,000 for those earning more, according to EdNC.

Not everyone benefited equally. The budget did not eliminate the pay plateau affecting teachers with 15 to 24 years of experience, who do not receive base-pay increases during that stretch. It also did not restore master's pay, the higher salary for teachers holding advanced degrees.

NC State Board of Education Chair Eric Davis said at the board's Aug. 6 meeting that the raises "will make a difference, particularly for many beginning teachers, but they do not fully address the challenges facing our educators."

The district's top-paid employee, Superintendent Crystal Hill, received about a 10% raise, bringing her compensation to nearly $351,000. The CMS board awarded Hill a 7% salary increase in December; the state added 3% this summer. Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight and Chief Finance Officer Kelly Kluttz each earn about $248,500, the second-highest salaries in the district.

Ballantyne families can look up individual teacher and staff salaries at their schools through the Observer's public database, which covers all 18,000 CMS employees across the district's 185 schools.