Teachers in W.Va. cheer pay hike deal

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s striking teachers cheered, sang and wept joyfully Tuesday as lawmakers acted to end a nine-day classroom walkout, ceding them 5 percent pay hikes that are also being extended to all state workers.

A huge crowd of teachers packing the Capitol jumped up and down, chanted “We love our kids!” and singing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Some even wept for joy. The settlement came on the ninth day of a crippling strike that idled hundreds of thousands of students, forced parents to scramble for child care and cast a spotlight on government dysfunction.

Officials from several of the state’s 55 county school systems said they planned to reopen as soon as Wednesday, but union leaders had not yet declared the strike officially over. A spokeswoman from the Department of Education did not respond to an email seeking comment.

The West Virginia teachers, some of the lowest-paid in the nation, had gone without a salary increase for four years.

Tuesday marked the ninth day of canceled classes for the school system’s 277,000 students and 35,000 employees. Teachers walked off the job Feb. 22, balking at an initial bill signed by Gov. Jim Justice to raise their pay 2 percent in the first year as they also complained about rising health insurance costs. Justice responded last week with an offer to raise teacher pay 5 percent — a proposal the House approved swiftly but that senators weren’t so eager to sign off on. Instead the Senate countered with an offer of 4 percent on Saturday, prompting leaders of all three unions representing the state’s teachers to announce that they would extend their walkout.

After a six-member conference committee agreed Tuesday to the new proposal, the House of Delegates subsequently passed 5 percent raises for teachers, school service personnel and state troopers on a 99-0 vote. The Senate followed, voting 34-0.