Students in Seattle apparently didn’t suffer enough from the school closures brought on by bureaucrats, Democratic politicians, and teachers unions. Now, the teachers union is shuttering schools in the city once again.
The Seattle Education Association authorized a strike on Tuesday, keeping 54,000 students out of school for the first two days of the year and counting. The union is, predictably, demanding higher pay, as well as other programs, and holding students hostage at the start of the school year to achieve them.
Seattle students have already dealt with anti-science COVID lockdowns on and off for the last two years. The statewide lockdowns in Washington state had predictable effects: test scores in English and math dropped across the board among all demographic groups, including every racial demographic, low-income students, and students with disabilities. Those students will never be able to make up for the learning loss they were dealt by pro-lockdown zealots.
The other issue for Seattle teachers is that, while they demand higher pay, the school district is bleeding students. It is projected that public school enrollment in the district will drop to 4,690 in 2025, down from 6,000 in 2020 before the pandemic. That will lead to annual budget shortfalls of $100 million, hitting $128 million in 2025.
The union already went on strike in 2015 for more money. That led to an increase from 5,300 Seattle Public Schools employees to 7,000. Now, teachers are demanding even more money while their district continues to lose students. Those who have stayed have already been set back forever, thanks to the intermittent closures they are now continuing to deal with.
In their greed, the Seattle Education Association and the teachers who support the strike are just going to set students back further, trying to leech more money out of a sinking ship. Addressing learning loss and the fact that parents are pulling their students from the public school system should be the priorities right now, not higher teacher salaries or more bureaucratic programs. But teachers unions think students are expendable, and so Seattle will continue to fail them.
