Few Teachers’ Strikes Mark U.S. Landscape

Contracts Remain Unsettled in Many Big-City Districts

Since the start of the school year, teachers have gone on strike in only a few districts. But the relative labor peace is no sign that negotiations have been easy.

Around the country, as districts continue to feel the squeeze between tight state budgets and soaring health costs, teacher labor talks have hung up on who will pay for the care. And in three of the largest districts, negotiators have grappled for months with proposed changes to the ways schools would be run, along with the usual concerns of pay and benefits.

The most dramatic show of concern over health care erupted last week in Kentucky, when teachers statewide protested a proposal they say will cost them dearly. More than 20 of Kentucky’s 176 districts shut schools in response to the action by the 36,000-member Kentucky Education Association, which rallied...