Gov. Josh Stein tried to strike a balance Tuesday between relief that North Carolina has a state budget after more than 1,000 days of waiting and critiques about that spending plan.
Stein signed the budget into law Tuesday morning during a ceremony at the Governor's Mansion.
The plan enacts the largest teacher pay raises in at least 15 years, features raises for all state employees and raises of at least 13% for all state law enforcement officers. It also provides an additional $700 million to ongoing Hurricane Helene recovery efforts and uses more than $1 billion to fully fund the state's Medicaid rebase.
But Stein was also clear that he sees the $34.3 billion budget as having deep flaws. The pay raises are good, he said, but still leave North Carolina lagging in correctional officer and state trooper pay. And the budget removes dozens of appointments from the governor's authority, eliminating some, giving some to the General Assembly and giving others to Republican members of the Council of State.
"North Carolina has got a good thing going. We really do. And if we want to remain a top state where people want to raise their families, where businesses want to invest, we have to continue to invest in the state (and) in our people. This commitment cannot be a one-time effort," Stein said.
Pay raises for correctional officers and state law enforcement officers are an important step, Stein said. But he noted that with the raises, North Carolina is still in the bottom 10 states for correctional officer pay.
He continued, "The historic state trooper raises that we're excited about move starting pay from 49th to 41st in the country. If I told y'all we were 41st, you would not be proud, but it's a heck of a lot better than 49th."
Stein also noted that most state employees who are receiving 3% raises are still effectively receiving a pay cut from two years ago due to inflation.
The pay raises are not retroactive, but most state workers will receive bonuses of either $1,000 or $1,750 depending on their salary.
Hannah Moon, a New Hanover County English teacher who was the Southeast Region's 2025 teacher of the year, said that the pay raise is greatly welcomed but that more progress is needed. The teacher pay raises are largely concentrated in the early part of a teacher's career, with the state's starting salary set to become the highest in the Southeast.
But the teacher's salary schedule still plateaus once a teacher has 15 years of experience, only going up one more time once they have a 25th year in the classroom.
"Even the most dedicated educators like myself reach a point where passion alone is not enough. Every day we're giving everything we've got, but quietly wondering how long we can afford to keep doing it. While this budget is a step in the right direction for public schools, there's still a lot of work to be done," Moon said.
Moon noted that as a teacher with more than 16 years of experience, she will receive a $1,000 bonus. But, she added, North Carolina teachers spend about $1,400 out of pocket on school supplies for their students each year.
How we got here
There was little progress on the budget during the legislative long session, leaving North Carolina as the only state that hadn't passed a budget during the biennium.
Then, on May 12, Speaker of the House Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger held a press conference to announce that they'd reached a framework on several high-profile items, including a plan to phase in income tax cuts, teacher pay raises and an agreement to use $208 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to help pay for a standalone children's hospital in Apex.
Stein has long been critical of that tax plan, which largely removes triggers that drop the rate when certain revenue thresholds are reached for automatic deductions that take place over the next several years. The General Assembly's tax plan also leaves intact a phase-out of the corporate income tax by 2029.
"While the budget pushes out further tax cuts beyond this year, which is a good thing, it nonetheless maintains future reckless preprogrammed tax cuts for corporate shareholders and the wealthy," Stein said, ruing that lawmakers didn't take up his plan for more targeted tax cuts for families.
After the May press conference, budget news went largely silent for about a month while committee chairs hashed out specifics of the sprawling document.
Republican leaders made the final version of the budget public last week, just days before the General Assembly voted to send it to Stein's desk.
After Stein signed the budget into law on Tuesday, Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a written statement, "For over 15 years, Republicans in the General Assembly have meticulously crafted budgets to rein in the runaway spending Democrats were dependent on. After decades of fiscal recklessness, Republicans right-sized state government and sent billions of dollars back to residents in the form of regular personal income tax cuts and reforms."
Stein said Tuesday morning that he'd spoken with Hall, R-Caswell, shortly before signing the budget.
Once it became law, Hall, who is in his first term as Speaker of the House, said in a written statement, "There is something in this budget for every North Carolinian, and the meaningful investments we’ve made will deliver real results that strengthen our communities, put more money back in people’s pockets, and improve lives across our state."
