A week after tens of thousands of Oregon educators walked out of their classrooms on May 8 for a statewide “day of action,” the state's governor signed a $2 billion funding package into law to pay for smaller class sizes and more educational programs.

The wave of teacher strikes hit California’s Bay Area on May 20, when teachers walked out of their classrooms in the school district covering Union City and South Hayward for the first time in the district’s history. About 600 educators, represented by the New Haven Teachers Association, joined picket lines outside their schools to demand pay raises over two years totaling nearly 7 percent.

The nation’s first-ever strike by unionized charter school teachers occurred in Chicago in December and set a precedent for other charter schools in the Windy City struggling with low teacher pay, crowded classrooms and poor funding. 

About 100 musicians in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have traded their instruments for picket signs, striking to demand a contract that protects their pension plan and provides fair wages.

Charter school teachers and paraprofessionals in Chicago ended their two-week strike on Feb. 18 after the Chicago International Charter School network promised to increase their salaries to the same level as educators in traditional public schools — a raise of nearly 35 percent over the term of the contract.

Teachers in West Virginia —a “right-to-work” state with no right to collectively bargain or strike— have proven adept at defending themselves and their students against a hostile Republican administration intent on undermining public education.