Baltimore County teachers demand raises, protest outside of Board of Education meeting

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore County teachers are calling on the Board of Education to ensure that pay raises for teachers and staff are included in the school budget.

They rallied together on Tuesday after learning from the Teachers Association of Baltimore County that the multimillion-dollar plan put forward by Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Darryl Williams for the next school year did not contain funding for recruiting or retaining educators.

The association used its social media accounts to urge educators to meet at the Baltimore County Public Schools Greenwood Campus to demand that teachers be prioritized in the upcoming budget vote.

Williams presented the $2.6 million budget to the Baltimore County School Board. The budget is about $226 million more than the current operating budget—with money covering the expansion of schools and programs, increased investments in technology and infrastructure, and compensation enhancements for all staff.

But the pay increase for teachers is not enough, TABCO president Cindy Sexton said.

"What is in the current budget for compensation is not adequate for us to retain our educators," Sexton said. "Other counties around us are offering significantly more."

The plan would give teachers a 2% step increase while other counties are increasing pay anywhere from 3% to 5%.

Sexton told WJZ that 200 educators have already left the school system this year, and with inflation and the cost of living increasing, some teachers are afraid that they'll lose more of their colleagues.

"It's hard," school social worker Jill Rosenthal said. "It's really hard because there are great teachers and we're losing them."

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• Baltimore County