“Should public school employees have the legal right to strike?”

That was the question presented to 4,500 Teachers Association of Baltimore County members, the local teachers union.

Nearly every one of them, 94%, said “yes.”

But that doesn’t change anything, at least not yet. A state delegate is working on legislation that, if successful, would reverse the Maryland law that stops teachers from striking.

“We don’t want to have to strike,” said teachers union President Kelly Olds, who said it would be “a last resort.”

Educators want that right as a bargaining chip if salary negotiations with Baltimore County Public Schools continue to go south, she said.

The union has been at odds with the school system this year after Superintendent Myriam Rogers asked to renegotiate an agreement to raise teacher pay.

Back in 2023, Rogers agreed to raises for 20,000 employees over the next three years without a funding plan. That led to a lengthy back-and-forth between the teachers union and the school system, and resulted in a lower-than-expected raise last school year.

A spokesperson for the school system said Rogers does not have any comment on the matter, though Rogers did say at a news conference this week that her proposed budget for next school year will include a salary increase.

Eric Ebersole, a state delegate representing Baltimore County, is working on a bill that would give all Maryland teachers a right to strike. The Democrat is optimistic that it has a chance of survival in the forthcoming General Assembly session because it has support from the Maryland State Education Association, the union that represents teachers in every school district except Baltimore City, and from the Baltimore Teachers Union.

Maryland is one of 37 states that don’t allow teachers to strike.

“Negotiations without that possibility really don’t have much teeth,” said Ebersole, a former 35-year Howard County teacher.

He said teachers believe they’d be treated more fairly during labor negotiations if they had that ability.

The bill is still in the works, he said, and he suspects it could face opposition. There are people who think having the ability to strike means teachers don’t care about kids, said Ebersole. But that right will only attract more people to the profession, he said.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.