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Gov. Roy Cooper has signed a law that will give a one-time bonus of $350 to teachers K-12 and instructional support personnel by October. The bonus would come along with their usual experience-based raises.

Democrats wanted the bonuses to be $1,250 for teachers and $1000 for non-instructional employees, but Cooper and the Republicans disagreed on whether the relief money can be used that way.

“I signed this bill because it funds step increases for teachers that have already been promised, but it falls outrageously short on raises we need to give teachers and all school personnel like bus drivers and cafeteria workers,” Cooper said in a news release. He said he hoped the legislature would offer more when it reconvenes in September.

This bill was one of 9 signed on Friday, and one of 50 more on Gov. Cooper’s desk waiting to be signed, vetoed or moved along without his signature.

Other bills signed on Friday would fund new positions at expanding state parks, cover low-cost tuition at three University of North Carolina campuses and allow judges to sentence some non-violent drug traffickers below mandatory minimum sentence lengths and fines.

Source: WNCT