Baltimore County teachers, all school employees to get 1% raises in the fall
Racquel Bazos
The Baltimore Sun
July 23, 2025
Baltimore County Public Schools will provide all union and non-union employees with 1% cost-of-living adjustments in September after striking a deal with its teachers’ union last week, but will delay other raises until 2026, Superintendent Myriam Rogers said on Wednesday.
The $4 million compensation package provides for the modest COLA increase on Sept. 20. The pay bump translates into about $329 for each union member, Rogers said.
Other scheduled “step” raises and related increases, which employees had hoped would take effect this summer, will instead be delayed until Jan. 1 — the same arrangement the school district made with the other four unions representing its employees.
All district employees, including non-union staffers, were included in the 1% raises “as part of our ongoing commitment to recognize the dedication” of all employees, Rogers said in a statement. Although the tentative deal between the teacher’s union and Baltimore County Schools was reached last week, its details weren’t announced until this week.
That delay in salary bumps had been a sticking point between the Teachers Association of Baltimore County, known as TABCO, and the district for months. Originally, TABCO members had initially expected to receive the cost-of-living adjustment, as well as “step” and “compression” pay increases, on July 1, according to union leadership.
In January, employees from the five unions will receive an average 5% compensation increase, according to the district.
TABCO president Cindy Sexton told The Sun on Wednesday that the delays mean the pay increase next year actually amounts to 3.05%, because the increases are delayed by six months. The union’s original contract with Baltimore County Schools called for the increases to be for the entire fiscal year, which started July 1, she said.
“We’re disappointed that our original three-year agreement was not honored,” union president Cindy Sexton said Wednesday when asked about the deal. “Every other contract the school system has is treated as a fixed cost, and this contract was not.”
Though language in all five unions’ contracts leaves the district room to renegotiate in case of funding troubles, like the district had this budget season, “that should not have been the fallback on what we need for our educators,” she said.
“This was always about making sure we have educators for our students,” Sexton said. “We will lose educators to other systems around us that are doing better with their … COLAs, … with their raises, with their compensation. And it’s going to be detrimental to our students.”
Even so, the union issued a statement on Wednesday stating that the deal represents a cash value of $26 million, compared to the $9 million package the district offered in May.
TABCO has an all-member meeting Thursday. Members can vote on the agreement Friday through Tuesday, Sexton said.
.Additionally, the deal provides that, pending school board approval, TABCO employees will have the day before Thanksgiving as a half-remote professional development day and a half mental health day. Another existing professional development day would be made remote.
“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,” Rogers said. “We appreciate 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.”