Baltimore County Teachers Protest For Better Contracts
BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. (WJZ) -- Teachers in Baltimore County rallied Tuesday evening to demand better contracts from the school board.
The teachers' union said they are currently negotiating a contract with the school board for the next school year. They said the superintendent's billion-dollar budget doesn't do enough to support teachers.
Union leaders said they want more money to bring in new teachers, while increasing benefits and salaries.
"We need to work to keep those teachers and that will take professional pay, help with discipline and also planning times, there's just not enough time," union president Cindy Sexton said.
Negotiations with the school board started in October, but Sexton said since then, there hasn't been any movement.
Teachers told WJZ besides higher salaries, they want smaller classes, better discipline policies for students and more paid planning time.
"Our students deserve a lot more, and our educators are overworked and overwhelmed, not being able to meet everybody's needs," teacher Kristen Nielsen said.
This comes as the county works to finalize the superintendent's $1.7 billion school budget plan that will be voted on in just two weeks.
"We feel the negotiations need to be done so you know where that's going to land before you vote on a plan that is going to fund that," Sexton said.
WJZ reached out to the school board for comment. They said the board is scheduled to vote on the superintendent's plan in two weeks. It will then move on to the county executive for approval.
