RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday his plan to raise North Carolina teacher pay to first in Southeast in three years.

Cooper’s plan would bring teacher pay to the national average in five years.

Teachers would receive a 5-percent raise this year and then another 5-percent next year.

“These aren’t just investments in our teachers, they are lasting investments in our economy and in our own children’s future,” said Cooper. “Education is part of North Carolina’s legacy, but recently we’ve fallen behind. My proposal is a serious, multi-year increase in teacher salaries that will get us to the national average so we can show our teachers the respect they deserve.”

Cooper’s plan would have the average teacher salary at more than $52,000 in 2017-2018. That average is proposed to be at $55,000 in 2018-2019.

Teachers would also see an annual stipend of $150.

Any raise is welcome news to North Carolina’s teachers.

But some of the more veteran teachers said they want to make sure that their salaries are going up as well.

Kathy Kauffman, a middle school guidance counselor, has worked in North Carolina for 19 years and is concerned, as an employee at the higher end of the pay scale, she may not see much of a raise.

“We’re hardly able to keep up with mortgage payments, with the cost of living in the area,” Kauffman said.

Cooper’s proposal is included in his upcoming budget that will be presented to the legislature.

“We’ll look forward to working with the legislature in the coming weeks because we know we’ve got to attract and retain these good teachers in order to have good public schools,” Cooper said.

In response to Cooper’s proposal, Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) issued a statement:

“After he opposed recent Republican budgets that increased average teacher pay by 15.5 percent, we are pleased Roy Cooper has finally joined legislative efforts to undo the damage of years of Democratic teacher furloughs and teacher pay freezes. We look forward to reviewing his complete budget proposal.”

House Speaker Tim Moore responded by saying Republicans have made historic commitments to raising teacher pay since 2014 and they’re excited to hear the governor wants to join them in those efforts.

Whatever is decided, Kauffmann hopes it has a positive impact on all teachers.

“Those of us who have a lot of expertise, we find it difficult to stay in this state even,” Kauffman said.

Cooper will visit Lynn Road Elementary Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. to discuss teacher pay.