Teachers strike in Ohio’s largest district 2 days before school begins

Teachers in Columbus, Ohio, are striking for the first time in 47 years after their contract expired early Monday following months of negotiation without an agreement over working conditions in the district’s more than 100 schools.

Unionized teachers with the Columbus Education Association (CEA) hit the picket lines Monday morning after a late Sunday vote in which 94 percent of the members rejected the “last, best offer” from Columbus City Schools’ Board of Education and authorized a strike.

The strike is the first of the new school year in a major district — Columbus enrolls more than 46,000 students — and comes as strike threats bubble up in other districts around the country. A county commissioner in North Carolina urged teachers to strike over low pay, citing a state budget surplus but massive teacher shortfall; over the weekend, 2,000 teachers in Philadelphia voted to strike a week before school begins.

Two-and-a-half years of pandemic-throttled schooling and a recent escalation of culture wars around what teachers can say on topics such as U.S. history, racism and LGBTQ rights have left districts across the country grappling with burned-out educators and catastrophic teacher shortages.

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