Earlier in February, Supt. Atkinson rolled out her latest big campaign agenda item.

That item is Teacher Pay increases.

This is not a new item for Atkinson, she’s repeatedly mentioned this since the legislature flipped to a  Republican majority. That’s not a bug, but a feature of her narrative.

In this blog post by Atkinson, she rolls out her 4 tier  ‘Wedding cake‘ strategy.

Mind you, nowhere in her blog post or outline of her Wedding cake plan does she mention how to pay for it.  Also bear in mind, Atkinson has been bemoaning the legislature and budget cuts being the cause of literally every item that snaps back at her.

Now, that Wedding cake’s four points looked awfully familiar to me. I was not alone and Common Core Diva shows us that these steps Atkinson uses are nearly identical to that of the compensation tiers in latest reauthorization of No Child Left Behind called the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

So is Atkinson using the federally informed and driven ESSA as her template to direct teacher compensation in North Carolina? Looks like it to me. The legislature should be made aware of this.