After failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay, about half of Denver public school teachers called in absent on Monday

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Denver school officials said more than 2,100 teachers called in absent on Monday, as educators went on strike. According to district data, that is about half the teachers employed in Denver public schools.

Denver teachers set to strike over better pay and working conditions Read more

After failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay, teachers began picketing before the start of the school day. Students joined protests outside several schools.

There has been a wave of teacher activism in the US since last spring, when teachers walked out in West Virginia. Last month, Los Angeles teachers were out for six days.

Denver schools remained open on Monday and district officials said administrators and substitute teachers would staff them. Classes for 5,000 preschool children were canceled.

The majority leader in the Colorado house, Alec Garnett, said the strike underscored the need to boost funding of public schools across the state.

Lawmakers must find a way to fix conflicting laws that restrict state K-12 spending by hundreds of millions of dollars a year, the Democrat said, adding that school districts must do a better job of ensuring tax dollars go to classrooms and not administration.

The Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) and Denver Public Schools met on Saturday in an attempt to reach a new contract after more than a year of negotiations. Both sides left disappointed.

The DCTA says 93% of participating members backed a strike in a vote last month. It released a statement after the Saturday meeting saying the district proposal lacks transparency and “pushes for failed incentives for some over meaningful base salary for all”.

The Denver schools superintendent, Susana Cordova, said she was “extremely disappointed” that the union walked away instead of continuing to work toward an agreement.

On Monday, Garnett said he met with both sides over the weekend and they were “super-close” to a deal.