Denver teachers went on strike Monday, February 11, for the first time in 25 years over a base pay raise. In 2005 the district piloted the Professional Compensation System for Teachers known as ProComp. This system paid teachers based on performance with a series of bonuses. At the time, the system was supported by the teacher’s union and school district officials, but now they say it makes it hard to earn a fair, predictable salary and a lack of funding of public school education in general.

They have been trying to negotiate salaries and more for the past 15 months and went on strike Monday because they had failed to reach an agreement. The school district likes the idea of bonuses and rewarding the best teachers, but many teachers in Denver would rather everyone get higher base pay.

The school district hired an additional 300 new substitutes to their 1,200 subs in preparation for the strike and every one of the 207 schools in the district remained open Monday, however, preschool classes were canceled for the day because there was not enough staff.

More than 2600 teachers missed school on Monday which is about 56% of the school district’s teachers. Students in some of the schools walked out in solidarity for their teachers as well. If the strike continues past a few days they may run out of substitutes and be forced to close the schools.

Colorado is ranked 46th for average teacher pay and the cost of living is 3.2 percent greater than the national average. Meaning that many teachers can not afford to live in places they teach on their salary alone. Mr. Ibanez, an art teacher at Rocky said, “I haven’t been able to follow the story very closely, but any teacher strike in Colorado that’s orbiting around teacher pay or inspired by teacher pay or salaries is incredibly important. When someone with a five-year college degree can’t afford to live in the city that they work full-time. that’s a problem.” Many teachers in Colorado and around the country probably feel the exact same way about the issue.

There was no attempt for negotiation on Monday, but the teacher’s union and the district started trying to negotiate as of Tuesday. Both sides want to end the strike as quickly as possible, but the teachers union wouldn’t back down until they received the pay they were asking for. They got closer to a deal on Tuesday, but the strike continued into Wednesday and negotiations continued early into Thursday morning as well.

In the end, both sides found a deal that they agreed upon early Thursday morning after an all-night negotiation meeting. All the details are not available yet because they still have to make the deal official. However, there is an average of 11.7 percent raise and increases when the cost of living increases. There is still going to be bonuses in place but they won’t be as major or fluctuate the amount of income for teachers so much. This is a victory for teachers and a step in the right direction for our education system.