Budget cuts typically spark anxiety as K-12 teachers feared losing their jobs last May.
Democratic lawmakers called the Republican-led cuts to education "draconian" and estimated several thousand pink slips.
But it never happened.
Governor Bev Perdue offered some numbers during a speech last week. "Local school districts report eliminating 17-hundred teacher positions... this past school year because of budget cuts."
Here's what you need to know: even that 17-hundred number doesn't give a true picture of real jobs lost because it includes vacant position and attrition.
Bottomline: across North Carolina 534 teachers lost their jobs in the 2011-12 school year according to a survey conducted by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
And if you dig a bit deeper, there were no teacher layoffs in Wake, Durham or Orange Counties.
Hardest hit in the NBC 17 coverage area was Cumberland County with 124 teachers and Johnston County cut 30 teachers.
Teacher Assistants did not fare as well. This school year 1,260 of them received pink slips.
Keep in mind the cuts to Local Education Associations started with the recession in 2008.
Overall 6,167 public school employees lost jobs over the past four years.
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