Seattle Teachers Strike: Educators Turn Down 9 Percent Raise

Seattle teachers are striking for the first time in 30 years. Salary complaints were the primary factor in the walkout at the beginning of the school year. The taxpayer-funded employees claim that their salaries have not “kept up” with the tech boom and growing local economy.

The Seattle teachers went on strike on what was scheduled to be the first day of school, Yahoo News reports. The educators have not reportedly had a cost-of-living increase in six years. The teachers claim they are having difficulty finding affordable housing and cite increased living expenses in the Seattle area among their top concerns.

Teachers going on strike is not the only education concern for the state of Washington. Elected officials are reportedly being pressured to increase funding to public school education. The funding movement began after the Washington Supreme Court said the school system in the state did not sufficiently fund the education of about one million children. The justices fined the state $100,000 per day until the fix the funding issue. The same court also ruled that the charter school system employed in the state is unconstitutional.

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Seattle Public Schools representative Stacy Howard noted during a Wednesday press conference that the district and the teachers are still unable to reach an agreement, and the 53,000 students in the city will be out of school again today. Negotiations between the Seattle teachers union and district administrators were slated to resume this morning.

“We are hopeful we will have a swift resolution so our teachers and students can get back to schools,” Howard said.

The Seattle teachers and the district reportedly remain very far apart on the issues of pay raises, the length of the school day, and the teacher evaluation process. Salaries for teachers in the district reportedly range from approximately $44,000 to $86,000. Teachers only work nine months out of the year, with pay being prorated to allow educators to still receive paychecks for the same amount over summer break. The typical public school day in the United States is seven hours long — including a half-hour lunch and planning period.

Teachers in the Seattle Public Schools District have been offered a 9 percent raise over the next three years, but they turned down the offer. The union countered a 10.5 percent raise over the next two years. Union vice president Phyllis Campano said the school district uttered a pay increase proposal that the teachers “couldn’t take seriously.”

“We’ll hold out as long as it takes,” 31-year-old kindergarten teacher Amanda Poch said while working on picket signs, Fox News reports.

“These are issues that every educator in the country is grappling with right now. If they can get some traction and are taken seriously as professionals, it will give hope to the rest of the 3 million other educators in the country,” National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia, said.

Teachers in Pasco, Washington, are also threatening to go on strike. The educators were subject to a court order demanding that they end a walkout and return to the classroom. The teachers voted to ignore the order and leave the 17,000 students they serve without educators.

In 2012, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that the state education systems is relying too heavily on local taxpayers dollars. Even though billions of dollars have been allocated to public schools in the state, opponents and union activists still feel the districts are not living up to their constitutional dictate to make education a “paramount duty.”

What do you think about the Seattle teachers strike? Is the pay of public school teachers fair based upon the hours and days worked each year?

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