Hundreds of teachers in Colorado Springs School District 11 staged a one-day strike on Wednesday, protesting their loss of a collective bargaining agreement. It’s the first teacher’s strike in Colorado Springs in 50 years.
“It’s just not right to have silenced that teacher voice in the decision-making,” said Jessica Medina, a school psychologist in the district and a parent of a D11 student.
Medina joined a crowd of supporters picketing outside the district administration building on Wednesday. Demonstrators, including students and former teachers, also protested outside district schools such as Palmer High School downtown. Organizers said more than a thousand people registered for the picket lines by 9 a.m.
Later in the day, state and local teachers union leaders addressed a crowd of hundreds, dressed mostly in red, at a rally in Acacia Park downtown.
“(The district’s) goal is to break our unity from the inside out, turn our schools into businesses, and divest from our children's future,” Liz Waddick, the vice president of Colorado Education Association, told the crowd.
The strike has been brewing for nearly a year. District 11 School Board members voted to end the district’s collective bargaining agreement in December 2024. It was the last remaining collective bargaining agreement among Colorado Springs area districts.
District leadership strongly opposes the strike, calling it a “political stunt” two days before general election ballots are mailed to city voters. Teachers said they planned to spend Wednesday afternoon canvassing for school board candidates.
“(The strike) can't be about pay because they got a 10 percent raise,” said School Board member Jill Haffley. “It can't be about benefits because they have the best benefits in the city. It can't be about planning time, duty-free lunches, those sorts of things, because we guaranteed those in the new employee handbook.”
Some educators question whether planning time is guaranteed in the new handbook. It was written by the district with input from teachers and replaced the collective bargaining agreement that had been in place since 1968. Striking teachers worry there are not proper guardrails in place to keep district administrators from altering the handbook at will.
“The collective bargaining agreement not only protected teachers, it protected students and protected administrators,” said retired D11 teacher and former president of the Colorado Springs Education Association union, Kevin Marshall. “This stupid handbook, it could change in a heartbeat.”
A press release from the school board argued the handbook “preserves and improves upon the teacher’s rights and benefits.” The statement said teachers’ voices would continue to be respected through committees, staff surveys and a newly formed employee engagement group.
“As an elected leadership body, we are ultimately accountable to our families and taxpayers,” the press release said. “Our commitment remains steadfast — supporting every teacher in the delivery of high-quality instruction and ensuring excellent learning opportunities for our students in safe learning environments.”
Teachers who participated in the strike were not paid. The district also offered extra incentive pay to substitutes to cover the absent classes. D11 Superintendent Michael Gaal said fewer substitutes were needed for Wednesday’s strike than for a March protest at the state capitol against education budget cuts. Gaal said classes on Wednesday were uninterrupted.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to correctly identify Colorado Education Association Vice President Liz Waddick. It has also been clarified to reflect how and if some teachers feel planning time is guaranteed in the new handbook.
