Wednesday’s first day of school was postponed by Seattle Public Schools after teachers voted overwhelmingly to approve a strike over salary, mental health support, and staffing ratios for special education and bilingual kids.
The president of the Seattle Education Association, Jennifer Matter, said on Tuesday that 95% of returned ballots favored a strike in the absence of an agreement with Seattle Public Schools. Contract discussions resumed.
“No one wants to strike,” stated Matter. “But SPS has left us with no options. We cannot return to the previous state of affairs.”
In an email to parents, the district expressed optimism that the bargaining teams would reach a satisfactory resolution for students, staff, and families.
As a result of the pandemic’s extreme strain on teachers and pupils, districts across the nation have encountered labor issues. After several difficult years, school district finances have been stabilized by federal stimulus funds, and teachers’ unions have tried to increase salaries, resources, and working conditions.
According to Bradley Marianno, assistant professor of education policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, high inflation, a national teacher shortage, and the goodwill teachers acquired from their pandemic-schooling efforts are all strengthening union aspirations.
“By all accounts, school budgets are currently in relatively decent shape,” said Marianno. As a result, as teachers union contracts expire, they seek new agreements that essentially give more money to teachers and more money to kids.
Kent, a suburb of Seattle, was scheduled to begin classes on August 25, however the start date has been pushed back due to a teacher strike.
Last Monday, teachers in the largest school district in Ohio, Columbus, agreed to a deal that included 4% salaries, plans for building improvements, smaller class sizes, and novel paid leave benefits.
Last week, lengthy bargaining sessions in Denver resulted in a tentative deal for an 8.7% raise for educators, a higher wage for first-year instructors, and an increase in district funding for health insurance costs.
Earlier this year, teachers in Minneapolis, Chicago, and Sacramento walked out before receiving new contracts.
In Seattle, the school district has offered pay raises of an additional 1% on top of the 5.5% cost-of-living increase mandated by state lawmakers, as well as one-time bonuses for certain teachers, including $2,000 for third-year Seattle teachers earning an English language or dual-language endorsement. This is significantly less than the union’s stated demands.
The union opposes the district’s plans to eliminate staffing ratios for special education children, arguing that doing so will increase the workload for both general education and special education teachers. The union also asserts that the district’s proposals would increase the responsibility of general education instructors to serve bilingual kids.
Julie Salazar, a speech language pathologist, stated in a video distributed by the union that she voted to authorize the strike because caseloads for her and other special education employees are too high.
“We cannot adequately serve our children, and everyone knows it,” she stated.