Baltimore County teachers rallied on Tuesday ahead of a school board meeting, pushing the district to adhere to the terms of a previously approved three-year pay raise agreement.

While the raises are happening, the timing of when those increases take effect isn't what was originally negotiated.

Educators told WJZ they want what was initially promised.

"You can't put students first if you put teachers last," Baltimore County teacher Tyler Bluestein said.

Baltimore County teachers will still receive the originally-promised 5% raise. However, that raise will not go into effect until January 2026, rather than in July, which was previously agreed upon.

"Whatever is in the contract, we said we would agree to it," said Baltimore County teacher Michele Goldsmith. "Now it's your turn. Agree to it."

During Tuesday's final school board meeting, the board said its funding is tight and cuts and changes had to be made. On Monday, the school district and the teachers' union filed for an impasse, which will include a mediator to help reach an agreement.

 "So it's essentially people working with no additional compensation or raise from July 1 to January," said teacher's union president Cindy Sexton. "It goes back to the thousands of dollars that some members will lose while they figure out those months and months without any additional money." 

Teacher's union calls for promised pay raises

In April, Baltimore County Public Schools teachers began re-negotiating a three-year pay raise that had been previously approved.

Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) had initially committed to a 5% raise for educators as part of a three-year compensation package. However, after the district received less funding than requested from County Executive Kathy Klausmeier's budget, the offer was reduced to 1.5%.

On May 28, the Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABCO) protested at three major intersections, including Liberty and Milford Mill roads.

There, educators voiced their frustrations over what they are calling a broken promise.

"Everybody's frustrated, teachers are angry," Cindy Sexton, president of TABCO, said. "I go through the county, and you can see some schools are holding up signs outside.

You know they want the agreed-upon money that we were guaranteed. Other counties around us are doing a better job and making better offers."

After further negotiations, BCPS announced a revised compensation timeline.

Under a revised agreement with four of the five unions representing district employees, teachers would still receive the full 5% raise, but not until Jan. 1, 2026. The original raise was set to take effect on July 1, 2025.

While closer to the initial agreement, the teachers' union says the existing proposal falls short of the compensation that was previously agreed on.

TABCO has not accepted the new deal. The union is expected to vote on whether to declare an impasse — a formal process that could lead to third-party arbitration to resolve the issue.

But as of last week, Sexton said TABCO members were still too angry to take that step forward.

"Our members are definitely not in the position to do that," Sexton said. "They are still very angry. They still want to keep showing up every day in these walk-ins, walk-outs, and work-to-rule actions."

Possible cuts within Baltimore County schools

The Baltimore County Council approved a $4.78 billion operating budget on May 23 for the Fiscal Year 2026. The school district sought millions more than what they were granted by the county to fulfill the agreement. 

In an email last month, Baltimore County Schools Superintendent Dr. Myriam Rogers outlined plans for cost-saving measures, which included eliminating some supervisory positions in the central office, extending a hiring freeze for non-school building roles, cutting $14 million from supplies and materials, and reducing division and department budgets.