Baltimore County teachers demand raises at rally outside school board meeting
Racquel Bazos
The Baltimore Sun
June 10, 2025
Members of Baltimore County’s teachers union rallied outside the last school board meeting of the school year Tuesday, demanding the district deliver its previously agreed-upon pay increases on time.
The Teachers Association of Baltimore County, known as TABCO, is the only union without a renegotiated compensation agreement after a tumultuous budget season forced the school district to re-evaluate the existing three-year agreements with its five unions.
Four of the five unions that work with the district have accepted delayed pay increases as part of agreements that Superintendent Myriam Rogers said otherwise fully funds their negotiated contracts.
In addition to hosting rallies around the county and authorizing walk-ins and walkouts, TABCO has instituted “work to rule,” meaning educators will only work during scheduled work hours.
TABCO and Baltimore County Public Schools jointly filed for impasse, which means with the Maryland Public Employment Relations Board Friday, according to a Monday message from Superintendent Myriam Rogers. The impasse process could result in a binding arbitration agreement.
“We are going to use every single tool that we have to keep fighting,” said TABCO President Cindy Sexton outside the closed session of Tuesday’s school board meeting. “We are here to put pressure on the board to do the right thing, to fund what they agreed to.”
Rogers, dressed in red like the teachers’ union members expressing solidarity, reaffirmed her support for the union.
“My commitment to you and to all of our employees is unwavering,” Rogers said in her report to the board Tuesday. “I believe I speak wholeheartedly for every board member. There is no board member that wanted to be in this position talking about compensation this year.”
At issue for the union is the delay in compensation increases proposed by the district.
“I want to be clear that these agreements make only one change to the original contract: the beginning and end dates for years two and three,” Rogers said in a message Friday to the school community. Instead of beginning July 1, years two and three of the compensation agreements would start on Jan. 1, 2026, and Jan. 1, 2027.
TABCO says the delays would represent a loss for members.
“The new terms outlined in this morning’s email would lead to a significant reduction to those agreements,” TABCO wrote on Facebook Friday.
“Further, there will not be a lump sum to correct this underpayment,” TABCO’s email says, saying members stand to lose thousands each over the next two school years because of the delays.
The union says Rogers is proposing a 2.3% reduction to its compensation increases, from 5% to 2.7% for the next two school years.
The board voted Tuesday to have Rogers cost out and consider prioritizing funding in the next two budgets for two one-time payments for unionized employees to make up for the difference in salary caused by the delayed increases. If those future budgets are funded, the payments would be made retroactively in December 2026 and December 2027.
Funding the agreements on time would come with trade-offs, according to the frequently asked questions section in Rogers’ Monday message.
“BCPS is not a self-funding school system. Options to fund the remaining $28M gap for compensation include raising taxes or increasing class sizes,” it reads. One million dollars translates into roughly 10 positions, it says.
On the other hand, the district says it can’t use its estimated $30 million fund balance for the next fiscal year to cover the compensation agreements because “any additional usage risks leaving the fund at an unsustainable level.”