No picket signs in Florida. Use ballots to help schools.

Teachers in five states have walked out in recent weeks. Would a strike happen in Florida? Probably not.

But could education become a key political issue this year? It should.

In West Virginia, teachers got a 5 percent raise after striking for two weeks. West Virginia, though, is one of 15 states in which the legislature sets teacher salaries statewide. The system in Florida is more complicated, and so are the politics.

Like West Virginia, Florida forbids public employees from striking or merely “instigating or supporting, in any manner, a strike.” Unlike West Virginia, Florida specifies harsh punishments. Individuals can lose their jobs. Fines for unions can be $20,000 per day of the walkout.

Florida teachers famously held a strike in 1968, to protest then-Gov. Claude Kirk’s cuts to education. It was the first such walkout in the country, and it failed. Tallahassee sent no new money. So if Floridians want new policies from Tallahassee, they have to change Tallahassee.

Teachers have every reason to gripe. They make 30 percent less than other college-educated workers. According to a 2016 survey in Scholastic magazine, teachers nationwide pay an average of $530 for classroom supplies. At high-poverty schools, it’s $672.

School districts don’t reimburse teachers for those expenses, but they have been able to deduct $250 from their federal taxes. During debate over the new tax bill, the Senate proposed doubling the amount, while Republican ideologues in the House wanted to eliminate it. The current deduction survived.

Florida teachers should be especially angry. Their salaries are $10,000 below the national average of $59,000. A Vox Media survey shows that salaries in Florida actually have dropped 6.4 percent over the last 15 years when adjusted for inflation.

Who could provide relief? As noted, it’s complicated. Though education is technically the state’s responsibility, only about 42 percent of the money comes directly from state revenue. Roughly 46 percent comes from county property taxes. The remaining 12 percent comes from the federal government. Nothing would prevent any governor and legislature from having the state pay much more, perhaps by raising the base sales tax from 6 percent to 6.5 percent. Since Florida has no income tax, the sales tax is the main source of state revenue.

Usually, however, Tallahassee plays games. Legislators raise local property taxes and pretend that they are increasing spending. Many voters believed that the Florida Lottery would mean a windfall for education. Instead, the Legislature began cutting the state share for education. Lottery money supposedly for enhancement went for basics.

That’s why Broward County will, and Palm Beach County may, ask voters this year to approve taxes that would help teachers and pay for other needs. Each will be a tough sell. Palm Beach County is in the second year of a 10-year, voter-approved sales tax increase, with half of the money going to schools. The Broward County School District’s implementation of a 2014 tax for construction has been problematic.

Still, the requests underscore the Legislature’s hostility to traditional public schools and teachers. Jeb Bush started this recent run with his test-centric education “reform” plan in 1999. No Florida governor has a child who took the FCAT, which helps explain why so much of the testing survives. Yet schools that accept taxpayersupported vouchers are exempt from the testing regimen. While diverting money from traditional public schools to finance those “scholarships,” the Legislature has siphoned construction money and given it to charter schools that supposedly weren’t going to need it.

Not surprisingly, Republican gubernatorial candidates Ron DeSantis and Adam Putnam don’t mention education on their campaign websites. They spar over who is more conservative and gunowner-friendly.

Democrat Gwen Graham bills herself as a former PTA president whose three children attended public schools. Democrat Andrew Gillum wants to raise starting salaries for teachers to $50,000. The other Democrats, Chris King and Philip Levine, talk more about school security and mental illness than salaries and academics.

The Parkland-related safety issue further reveals Republicans’ attitude toward schools. The Legislature and Gov. Scott approved extra money for security. What the state sent, though, won’t meet the stateordered requirements and will leave large districts short on money for teaching and teachers.

Florida teachers can’t strike. But they and other voters can penalize candidates who undercut public education. Half a century after that strike, it’s time.

Randy Schultz