Striking West Virginia teachers were to go back to class on Thursday, according to a deal that was announced Tuesday evening. But the teachers voted with their feet and schools across the state are still closed on Friday. Teachers cite their lack of trust that the state legislature will follow through and give them the 5 percent raise Gov. Jim Justice promised, but pay isn't the major issue for many:

Teachers in West Virginia stressed to me on Tuesday that the salary issue pales in comparison to the key problem that prompted the walk-out: the rising costs associated with the state’s health-insurance system, the Public Employees Insurance Agency, typically referred to by its acronym PEIA. “[People] see us out here and think it’s money—they think it’s only about the pay raise. It is so not about the pay raise,” Annette Jordan, a teacher at Hedgesville High in Berkeley County, told me as she picketed in front of the school’s campus along Route 9. Holding a sign that read, “I’d take a bullet for YOUR child but PEIA WON’T cover it,” she explained that because of structural changes to the health-insurance system, her family’s monthly premiums would more than double starting July 1. An agreement hasn’t yet been reached on PEIA; Justice said on Tuesday that he’s going to appoint a task force to “try to look for solutions and a permanent fix” for the health-insurance system.

Even beyond that, the teachers are concerned about the broader state of education in West Virginia. The lack of funding for the schools and the ways teachers aren’t treated as respected professionals, combined with low pay and insurance problems, make it harder to recruit and retain teachers.