Teachers Settle Pay Dispute, Agree To Smaller Raise In Baltimore County

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Teachers settled their pay dispute with the Baltimore County school board this week.

Educators will get a raise, albeit a smaller one than they were initially promised.

The Teachers Association of Baltimore County said it voted Tuesday to accept the 3.05% increase offered during mediation. TABCO said the county vowed in 2024 that educators would get a 5% raise this year.

"Our members know the sting of disrespect when their agreement is not followed," TABCO President Cindy Sexton said in a Wednesday press release announcing the agreement. "They know the frustration of losing colleagues at nearly 10% turnover a year, they see how this impacts students, they're not just going to take it anymore."

The teachers union begrudgingly took the deal in a tight budget year that has seen job and funding cuts.

"Our unwavering commitment to the education and well-being of our 110,000 students was at the center of our negotiations in 2023 and has remained true despite this extraordinarily challenging fiscal climate," Baltimore County Public Schools Superintendent Myriam Rogers said in a July 23 letter to staff. "As shared throughout the budget process in 2023 and 2024, BCPS was slated to see a significant increase in Blueprint dollars from the state for fiscal years 2026 and 2027. Those additional Blueprint funds, strategic reductions in staffing and materials, and anticipated local and federal funding were to be used to fund our compensation packages. However, it became increasingly clear that uncertainty at the federal, state and local levels meant that we would need to approach the budget differently."

Sexton said the deal has a total cash value of roughly $26 million. She said that's nearly three times the $9 million that BCPS offered in May.

BCPS's four other employee unions accepted the offer this spring. The teachers were the only ones to reject it.

Reaching an impasse, TABCO voted to authorize "work to rule." This meant educators had their union's blessing to complete only the minimum amount of work required under their contracts. The negotiation tactic is meant to highlight how much work teachers do off the clock and beyond the purview of their direct job responsibilities.

Teachers protested in the rain, wrote thousands of letters and rallied outside the school board.

Under the ratified agreement, teachers will get a 1% cost-of-living adjustment effective on Sept. 20 to counter inflation.

TABCO said on New Year's Day 2026, "members who are not at top-of-scale will move one step on the wage scale and then gain the value of a second step through compression - effectively two steps."

In addition to these raises, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving will be a half-day remote professional development day and a half day off. One existing professional development day during the school year will be converted to a remote professional development day.

"We are not done. The third year of the contract is still there, in black and white," Sexton said, referring to the final year of a previously agreed-upon pay plan. "For our students, our families, and our profession, we're ready to fight for what we've been promised."

Rogers said she appreciates "the collaboration of all parties involved in the negotiations."

"This agreement reflects our commitment to providing competitive salaries for Team BCPS staff and to fiscal responsibility while fast forwarding student achievement," Rogers said. "Every member of Team BCPS plays a vital role in our efforts to continue the forward progress, growth and success of our students and system."

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