Spokane Teachers Split On Strike Survey Shows Mixed Support For Walkout Over Pay Raise; Support Rises Where Cost Of Living Is Higher

A survey of Spokane teachers shows they’re split when it comes to supporting a “ministrike.”

Teachers were asked whether they’d support a work stoppage of some sort if the Legislature doesn’t give them a significant raise this session.

Of the 1,023 teachers who responded to the written survey, 510 said no; 480 said yes.

The rest made comments ranging from “I don’t have enough information” to “This is a dumb idea,” said Lynn Jones, president of the Spokane Education Association.

“We just have mixed results. Who knows what the future will bring in terms of action?”

Several districts around the state have taken similar surveys, prompted by concern that legislators won’t come through with much money.

Gov. Gary Locke has proposed a 4 percent pay increase over two years; state schools superintendent Terry Bergeson has proposed about 10 percent over two years. Washington Education Association leaders say teachers need 15 percent in the next two years to gain lost ground.

In some districts on the West Side, where the cost of living is higher, surveys show the majority of teachers favor a strike.

In suburban Spokane’s Central Valley School District, 65 percent of teachers who responded to a survey also favored some sort of “collective activity.” But only 260 of the union’s 650 teachers returned the survey - not enough to tell where the group really stands, union president Jeff Brown said.