The L-A teachers strike may be over but teachers in another big city school district are about to go on strike.
On the same day news came of the settlement in the L-A Unified School district, came word that teachers in the Denver public school system were voting to authorize a strike after more than a year of unsuccessful contract talks.
In both cases, higher pay has been at the forefront. The agreement in L-A gives teachers there a six percent pay raise and a slight drop in class size. The same issues appear to be at the center of the teacher contract fight in Denver.
Should we worry about a teachers strike in the San Diego Unified School District, the state’s largest next to L-A?
Not according to a recent report in the San Diego Union Tribune despite salaries for teachers in San Diego being only slightly higher than those in L-A and San Diego Unified teachers recently getting only a 3 percent pay increase, less than the 6 percent L-A teachers are getting.
But according to the analysis in the Union Tribune, San Diego Unified is less likely to have a strike, partly because of a perception among union leaders that San Diego’s school board and superintendent are more in touch with traditional public education than L.A. Unified’s leadership.
That’s good to know, because no matter the validity of any pay dispute, most parents will agree that teacher strikes are not good for students.
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