Baltimore County teachers express frustration as promised pay raise returns to bargaining table
Some teachers in Baltimore County are expressing frustration and disappointment after being asked to re-negotiate a three-year pay raise that had already been approved.
The district's request comes after Baltimore County Public Schools received less funding than expected in the proposed county budget. School officials said they must now explore cuts to cover the shortfall without compromising education quality.
"To have to go back to the negotiations table, when we all thought we were set for three years, it's all very disappointing and disheartening," said Cindy Sexton, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County.
Financial uncertainty for Baltimore County Public Schools
Baltimore County Public Schools requested a 10.4% increase over last year's budget. The county executive's proposed budget includes only a 3.5% increase, leaving a $61 million gap tied to teacher raises.
"There are teachers who are ready to resign," Sexton said. "A lot going on, and of course, money is not the only issue. We know that teaching is hard work."
Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers said the district did not expect this level of financial uncertainty.
"We weren't anticipating so much uncertainty when it came to resources," Rogers said. "As a matter of fact, Blueprint had predicted that this was going to be a great year for us in terms of additional funding."
Now, both sides are preparing for negotiations.
"We don't know what their first offer would be," Sexton said. "We're still trying to determine the actual amount of money that is available that we can work with."
Rogers said the district will be in direct contact with staff.
"We're going to start crunching, and we're going to decide what our next steps are," she said. "They can expect to hear directly from me."
In an email to parents Monday evening, Rogers outlined planned cost-saving measures. These include eliminating some supervisory positions in the central office, extending a hiring freeze for non-school building roles, cutting $14 million from supplies and materials, and reducing division and department budgets.
"Well, at this moment we are figuring them out," Sexton said. "Our core negotiations team met last week to talk about what next steps might be. The board of directors is meeting later this week to have some of those conversations."
The county council will continue reviewing the proposed budget in the weeks ahead. A final decision is expected by the end of May.
