Tax cuts for West Virginia’s largest businesses somehow did not bring the economic benefits that the state anticipated. As a result, teacher pay in the Mountain State has fallen to the 48th-lowest in the country. In addition to barely getting by, striking teachers point out that West Virginia schools are now dangerously understaffed as younger teachers flee the state in search of a living wage.
(CNN)The work stoppage by West Virginia’s public school teachers and staff looks set to continue Tuesday.
Around 20,000 teachers and 13,000 school service employees first hit the picket lines Thursday in all of the state’s 55 counties to demand better pay and benefits. Monday was the third day schools were closed.
Christine Campbell, president of the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia, one of the three bodies representing teachers and service staff, told a rally at the State Capitol on Monday that teachers would not return to their classrooms yet.
“We are ready, we are willing. We stand on the right side of public education, by being back here and outside our schools tomorrow,” Campbell said.
The head of the state’s largest teacher organization earlier said that small strides had been made in the effort to end the stoppage.
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