Classrooms across Washington state sat empty last week, as teachers in seven districts went on strike when negotiations over salaries and benefits failed to result in contracts by the first day of school.
Seattle public schools weren’t scheduled to open until this week, but teachers there also voted to strike if a contract deal was not reached.
Driving these strikes is an additional $2 billion in the state budget for teacher salaries, money allocated after a 2012 state supreme court ruling in McCleary v. State of Washington. The court later ordered the state to find the money to increase teachers’ base salaries by this fall. Now, the unions want to see that money distributed to teachers.
