MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One Marion County educator sees it as retaliation.

Allyson Perry, President of the Marion County Education Association and a 7th grade English teacher, said the educators and service personnel she has spoken too don’t want a pay raise if it is attached to the rest of the omnibus education bill.

“Teachers and service personnel that I’ve talked to by and large do not want this raise if it means all of these other things,” she said.

It’s why Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, remained one of those opposing S.B. 451 when the House voted on their changes to the law last week.

“I didn’t trust what they would do in the Senate, and I think my mistrust of what they do over there has been validated tonight,” Williams said. “I didn’t think they would stick to what the House passed. It wasn’t going to have my support knowing that it was coming back looking like the way it is going to come back.”

Monongalia County was among the earliest schools to close, followed shortly by their neighbors in Marion County about half an hour later.

“We just kept feeling like we’ve been retaliated against,” Perry said.

Perry said she had numerous reservations about the less controversial House version of S.B. 451, but said the Senate’s action required a response.

“We knew if the Senate wasn’t willing to take any of our considerations into account that we would be willing and ready to go on a strike if need be to protect our public schools,” she said.

She criticized the bill as essentially a cut-and-paste job by the American Legislative Exchange Council, often described as a conservative or libertarian organization of state legislators.

Williams praised educators for their willingness to strike on principle, even at the expense of their own pocketbooks.

“The issues are a little different, but two years in a row the teachers have been forced to the brink — now to protect their vocation and their students,” Williams said.

“I think the fact that they are striking when there is a five percent pay raise shows the truth of what I know to be the West Virginia teacher — that they really look out for their students.”

Schools in 54 of 55 counties were closed as of 9:13 p.m. EST.