'For Our Students and For Our Profession': Denver Educators Strike for First Time in 25 Years

Taking their place among a national awakening of public school educators demanding better treatment of their profession and better schools for their students, thousands of teachers went on strike Monday after 15 months of negotiations stalled.

The walkout is the district’s first in about 25 years, with teachers decrying their chronically low pay resulting from an incentive-driven compensation system, and the suffering it inflicts on Denver’s 71,000 students.

“In the richest country in the world, our teachers should be the best-paid, not among the worst-paid. I stand with Denver teachers. We must invest in public education because our students and teachers deserve better.”                                                                                                                                         —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

“We will strike Monday for our students and for our profession, and perhaps then DPS will get the message and return to the bargaining table with a serious proposal aimed at solving the teacher turnover crisis in Denver,” said Henry Roman, president of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), in a statement Saturday, after the union rejected Denver Public Schools’ latest offer to reform compensation.

Outside the district’s schools on Monday, many students braved the cold to join their teachers in demanding fair pay. Demonstrators carried signs reading “On strike for our students” and “I’d rather be teaching but I can’t afford it.” Many chanted, “What do we want, fair pay! When do we want it? Now!”

The main issue teachers are striking over is a compensation system which they say favors giving out incentives over base pay, making it hard for the district to attract and retain qualified educators. More than 30 percent of Denver teachers have been in the district for three years or less, according to DCTA.

Under the compensation system, teachers are given financial incentives to teach hard-to-staff subject areas and schools. This keeps base pay at an average of $43,255 per year, according to USA Today—an amount that makes it hard for many to make ends meet in Denver.

“Over the years,” education reporter Jenny Brundin said on NPR‘s “Morning Edition” Monday, the system “became really complicated and unpredictable. Some of the incentives would suddenly disappear or shrink. And teachers say that makes it really hard to plan or even pay rent.”