Denver teachers strike continues

Denver teachers extended their strike into a third day on Wednesday after negotiations with school district leaders ended Tuesday night without a deal. More than half of the city’s teachers walked off the job on Monday amid a pay dispute, and more—nearly 60 percent of all teachers—did not report for work on Tuesday. Preschools closed on Monday, but elementary, middle, and high schools have remained open and staffed by administrators, substitutes, and teachers not participating in the strike. The district serves about 71,000 students.

Denver’s incentive-based pay system gives bonuses to teachers in schools with low-income students, in high-priority schools, or in positions that are hard to fill. The teachers union is pushing to lower or eliminate those bonuses to free up money for teacher salaries and to change Denver’s pay system to more closely resemble other districts that allow teachers to advance in pay based on experience, education, and training. The district has proposed raising starting teacher pay from $43,255 to $45,500 a year, $300 less than the union proposal.

Negotiations between the union and district administrators resumed at 10 a.m. Wednesday.