Baltimore County teachers are getting a hard fought raise after reaching a new deal with the school system.

The new amount is less than what they originally bargained for, but more than what Baltimore County Public Schools tried offering in the spring.

Over 9,000 educators represented by the Teachers Association of Baltimore County will receive a 3.05% increase overall. The teachers union said they received that number from the school system. The school system, however, is claiming that the increases amount to 5%.

But part of that increase won’t kick in until Sept. 20, while the rest will start in January — six months into the school year.

The other four unions, which represents employees such as principals, bus drivers, paraprofessionals and supervisors, will also receive a 1% cost of living increase in September, according to a Wednesday email the school system sent to staff.

When the county made a deal to pay its 20,000 staff members more money in November 2023, the deal was to increase salaries by 3% in the first year and 5% the following years. The second-year salary bump was supposed to kick in at the start of July, but Superintendent Myriam Rogers announced in April that the school system had to renegotiate the deal because of budget constraints.

It would’ve cost $61 million to fund the second year increases. The school system did not have a plan to fund all three years before a deal was made. So they pitched a 1.5% raise to the teachers union instead. Four of the five unions settled for a 2.75% raise, but the teachers decided to fight. Both parties hit an impasse, and a mediator was brought in to help reach a settlement.

The school system announced the new deal to staff Wednesday morning. The 3.05% raise amounts to $26.7 million, the teachers union said they were told by school system officials. Classroom teachers and other 10-month employees will see the pay bump in their second paycheck for the 2025-26 school year.

Baltimore County Public Schools declined an interview request, but a school system offical, who did not want to be named, disagreed with the 3.05% increase and claimed it amounted to a 5% increase. The teachers union, however, said that figure doesn’t consider the delay until January.

The new contract also includes turning an in-person professional development day into a virtual one, and making the Wednesday before Thanksgiving a half-day for professional development.

Gboyinde Onijala, spokesperson for the school system, said funding for the deal will come from state money, surplus funds and reductions in staff and materials.

Cindy Sexton, the outgoing president of the teachers union, said she’s still disappointed that instructors didn’t receive the 5% increase as planned. Teachers and county leaders all celebrated back in 2023 when the deal was first made.

“Every other contract the school system makes is treated as a fixed cost, and this was not treated as a fixed cost,” she said. “There has been no talk about year three, but we all see the writing on the wall, right? We’re very concerned about the third-year contract as well.”

Sexton thanked her fellow educators for the new deal, saying it was the result of their advocacy through protest rallies, walkouts and speaking out during school board meetings — even as school system officials, she said, called those efforts “nonsense and noise.”

Onijala denied that officials made those comments.

“Honoring and following a contract is not nonsense and noise,” said Sexton. “This was not just about putting money in the teacher’s pocket. This was about doing what we could to make sure we have educators in our classrooms.”

She noted that the school system has already lost educators because of pay. Sixteen school psychologists left after their work schedules changed.

After six years as president, Sexton‘s term is over at the end of the month. She has wanted teachers to become “great, long-term educators” for students, but many have left during her tenure. It’s a huge disappointment that it occurred during her presidency, she said.

Still, she added, the union will “continue to fight for what we believe is in the best interest of our students and, by extension, of our educators.”

This story was updated to correct the raise percentage for four of the five unions.

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