NC guides
TSERS, licenses, EC areas, pay and Social Security: guides for North Carolina teachers
Each guide covers rules and figures a North Carolina teacher may want to check, and quotes the agencies and laws behind them: state law and NC Retirement Systems for TSERS, the State Board of Education and DPI for licenses, the 2026 budget law, DPI and BLS for pay, and federal law and the Social Security Administration for the earnings test. The guides are grouped below by topic.
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Retirement: TSERS and Social Security
TSERS Return to Work in NC: the Six-Month Wait and 2026 Earnings Limit
Who counts as a system employer, the six-month wait, the 2026 earnings limit, jobs that stop a benefit, and what NC Retirement Systems says about private employers.
TSERS and Social Security: Option 4 Leveling, 2026 Earnings Limit
How a TSERS pension and Social Security fit together: who pays in, Option 4 leveling, and the 2026 earnings test before full retirement age.
Teaching licenses and EC license areas
NC CPL Renewal and License Lookup: 8 CEUs, Expired Licenses, Retirees
How to look up, copy and renew an NC teaching license (8 CEUs every five years), what changes when it expires or when you retire, the lifetime license, and licenses from other states.
What Is an EC Teacher in NC? Special Education Licenses and Exams
What EC (Exceptional Children) means in North Carolina, the State Board’s special education license areas, the exams LICN-003 lists, and DPI’s EC vacancy count for 2025-26.